No Point in Fighting
by SatyrsUnite
Summary: Alex Newman witnessed his parents' murder as a nine-year-old. Left to survive alone in a world full of monsters out for demigod blood, he must find his way to salvation at CHB before being called on for a mission to defend his new home while battling his know-it-all ego and godly parent's attention. OC/OC, canon characters will be largely featured. Action-packed guaranteed!
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone! Your community satyr worshipper is back! Thanks for bothering to click on the story, and I'll try to update again in a week or sooner. Thanks for reading!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or any series spun off of it. Rick Riordan does :) No copyright or infringement is intended.**

I was right. I was always right, and I could honestly say I hated it. Contrary to popular belief, having the knowledge of the world inside your head wasn't as enjoyable as it sounded. My mind was a personal Wikipedia and Google search engine mixed into one, waiting for me to summon the information I needed to get through the day. It must be crowded up there, in my head. It was a massive filing cabinet, every answer to every question and every moment from every day logged inside. Too crowded for my taste, but I had learned to live with it.

The pros and cons of knowing this are as follows:

Pros: an A+ guaranteed on every test, every word to say that would convince your parents to expand your curfew another hour, not panicking in a life-or-death situation because you know exactly what to do

Cons: remembering every point in your life, the good and the bad

I thought back to the worst, to that day—that night if we were being specific, just after sunrise, six-oh-four PM. It had started off well—my dad had come home early to watch my Little League baseball team the Sluggers go up head-to-head against the Jersey Boys. We had gone to the game without him, my mom and I. When I was up to bat during the third inning and saw him cheering in the stands. Gods, I must've been the happiest kid in the entire world. It had upset the balance, I suppose, for me to be so happy. The Fates must've not liked it or something. That's why it happened.

We had won the game 6-4, and Dad and I had raced back to the car screaming and cheering, our fists held high in the air, the night air exhilarating as we made our way off the illuminated field. When Mom had caught up, we went out for pizza at one of the local joints before returning home. It was now seven-forty-five, and my eyes were growing heavier by the second, the combination of warm food and a tired kid body weighing them down. That's why Dad carried me inside, my bat bag over his shoulder, and therefore I could feel him tense the moment we all stepped inside the house. The front door slammed shut and Dad clutched me to his chest. I remember it hurting—he was squeezing too tight, and I whispered at him to stop. He set me down and Mom had taken my hand, running down the hallway, my father not far behind.

"You'll never have him!" she screamed, but I didn't know who until a gentle voice whispered in my head: _The Earthborn._ The name sounded familiar, but the information inside my filing cabinet head was fuzzy and smudged.

"Jane," Dad yelled, him having disappeared into one of the branching rooms. "Do you have him? Is Alex okay?"

"He's fine!" Mom called back. "John, where are they?"

Dad came running back to us, two baseball bats in his hand. Both were an odd color, one foreign to the bats I was use to, shimmering gold. His dark eyes were searching the darkness for something, the Earthborn I assumed. "I don't know," he admitted. "The doors are locked, windows too; power's down. We aren't going anywhere, and neither are they."

Mom hugged him. "I thought we had lost them. She said she'd take care of it!"

"Athena must be busy." That was all Dad said. It was simple. He wasn't angry or upset about it like Mom. Mom always got angry when he defended her, his former girlfriend, my birth mother. Jane needn't worry—I had never spoken to this mysterious Athena before, and I had no desire to. When I was younger it had bothered me quite a bit, like I was good enough for her time, but I got over it once Jane came into the picture. She became my mom, and a wonderful one at that. I figured what kind of mother could this Athena be if she didn't even have a normal name? Athena… I had thought it was the stupidest name I could think off. What parent names their child Athena anyway? Of course, my juvenile train of thought had been clouded by frustration, confusion, and anger at her abandonment.

"Alex," my dad whispered. His voice scared me. Never before had I heard it so soft, and serious, and… afraid. "Do you know where they are?"

"The Earthborn? Uh…" I thought for a moment, and all of a sudden, I knew. The voice came inside my head again and spoke the answer. "In the kitchen. They're waiting. They want you to make the first move."

Dad wasn't smiling, and his face looked odd without one. "Thank you Alexander."

"You're welcome," I said, perfectly polite like he had taught me.

Dad knelt down, placing both hands on my shoulders. "Son, I'm about to tell you something that I knew want you to forget, okay? So listen up. Alex, I love you. I will always be proud of you. Everything I had done was for you. I wish I was able to see you grow up, start a family, have kids…" He shook his head. "I was foolish. Never be foolish, and learn from my mistakes. Now go to your bedroom and break the window. Run to the garden and hide. Whatever it is, whatever you hear or see, don't get up. Stay where you are. Stay hidden, stay safe."

I nodded. Tears were running down my face.

"What's happening?" I whimpered.

Dad wiped a tear from my cheek and pulled me to him. He kissed my cheek. "Use your head of yours. Your mom gave you that head, and she was a really smart lady. Just know I love you, alright? There is nothing to be afraid of. Just remember, never give up. Never ever. Promise me you won't."

"Cross my heart, I swear."

"Good. I love you. Now you need to go."

He pressed something into my hand and shoved me towards my bedroom door. I didn't have time to say goodbye to Mom, but that was okay. She didn't look like she was able to speak, her beautiful eyes brimmed with tears, some falling down her cheeks and dripping onto her t-shirt. When I looked back at her, she blew me a kiss and waved, giving me a sad smile to send me on my way.

I ran to my window and broke the glass, rushing into the garden. I found a good spot to hide in a pile of mulch. I made a cave, diving inside and not caring about the rotten smell that filled it.

It was only a few moments after when I heard my parents screaming, metal clashing against metal. Dad roared something but I was unable to make out what. It was hard to hear him over my own sobbing.

As soon as it had begun, the action stopped, the silence expanding uncomfortably. I stopped crying in an attempt to heard what was happening. The screen door creaked open, and footsteps approached. They were heavy, like Dad's. I was about to run out to him, my heart rising into my throat, a smile erupting on my childish face, when I froze. There was a voice calling out to me, and I didn't recognize it.

"Where are ya Alex?" It was deep and gravely, the words slow to tumble from their throats. "Don't you want to see your parents? I'll let them live if you come out."

But Dad said I shouldn't, and so I didn't. I was a good boy. I followed orders.

The voice burst out in a great booming laugh. "Come out now and maybe you can hear their last words."

I was only nine at the time, yet I knew what that meant. After all, I knew everything.

My cave darkened as the bent to the mouth of my mulch cave. I nearly shouted, they scared me so bad. The person that had bent down had only one eye, huge, black in the middle of their forehead. What sounded and looked like sand pouring down a cut on his—its—face, and every appeared to be smashed in. When it frowned, it was even more hideous.

He disappeared. I was confused. He had to have seen me It was impossible for him to not have.

"Come on Alex," it screamed angrily. "No more hide and seek! Come out and face me!"

My arms pulled my knees to my chest and tightened around then, and I squeezed my eyes shut, still young enough to believe that although it was illogical, closing one's eyes can take you away from what was happening.

"Come on!" the creature bellowed. "I know you're here somewhere!" The mulch around me shifted violently, destroying my little cave, drowning me in wood chips and weeds that scratched and tangled in my body. Still, I stayed quiet and motionless.

It was digging, I had decided, for me, trying to find me in this small yard.

I wished I had a baseball bat in my hand. For a seven year old, I had a killer swing. Dad said it was one of my many talents.

The scratching and grunting was getting closer I almost couldn't take the wait. Then, I saw my golden opportunity: the creature was facing the opposite direction, merely from my body. I poised onto the balls of my feet, ready to spring on the attack.

_Don't do it._

I froze. There was that voice again, inside my mind. Was it me? Was I telling myself to stop?

_Don't do it. Listen to yourself. You're right. You're always right._

I am. I am always right. Don't do it. I won't do it. I know I shouldn't. I won't do it.

I relaxed slightly, even as the one-eyed monster stood, blowing any chance I may have had at killing it. It tipped back its head and bellowed. "We lost him! Runt couldn't have gotten far. Let's go." Another roar later and it was silent once more.

I waited. A minute. A hour. Two hours. Three. It took that long to gather enough courage to leave the safety of the mulch pile and into the house.

The moment I stepped over threshold and inside, I tripped and found myself face to face with Mom.

Her green eyes were open wide, her make up still perfect, her arms splayed out and one of the golden bats by her side. She was dead, that was plain to see. Her eyes were clouded and her chest refused to rise.

I gave a small squeak in fear and jumped over her, scrambling to get away.

"A-Alex." My head swiveled. To the far end of the kitchen I saw my father. He was propped up against the drawers where Mom kept the nice dishes. He had a bloody cut on his face, but the couldn't have been the source of the red that soaked through his shirt. "Alex, come here, quickly now." He sounded weak, as though he was fighting for breath.

I hurried over and held his hand.

"Alex," he said, dark eyes locking on my grey ones. "You need to leave here now. Under the sink there's an emergency bag. It has everything you need. Run away from here. You're on your own. I can't feed you or protect you anymore. That's all on you now, okay?"

"Daddy, I can call the cops. They'll save you." My heart broke when he shook his head. "Daddy I don't want you to go."

He gave a sad smile. "I'll be with your mother. We'll be fine, trust me. All you need to do is leave and stay safe. Trust no one. People like them will be out hunting for you for the rest of your life, okay?" Dad coughed, his voice growing weaker. "Take my bat. Keep it with you at all times."

I got to take _his _bat? It was incredible. It had hung on the shelf in the garage for years, used just now when he had pulled it down to defend himself. I had always admired the thing from afar. It was gold and flawless, the Louisville Slugger logo on the side, black leather grip…

"But its yours," I said.

"I'm giving it to you. Now, Alex, you need to go." He started coughing again, and this time, his eyes never shut, and he didn't saw another word.

A Cheeto hit the side of my face, leaving orange artificial flavoring on my temple. "Dude," I hissed. The snack had interrupted me from my recollection, the day my life started eight years ago. I turned to glare at my friend, the only partner I had in staying alive in this world, Taylor. He was fifteen as well, but we had met when we were eleven, and were inseparable ever since we realized the same kind of people—or rather, things—were coming after us.

"Come on man, let's keep moving." Taylor stood from his perch on his boulder, one out of many we had found in the forest we were hiking through. "The highway's only a little further, then we should hitchhike into Manhattan. That _is_ where the voice in your head said to go, right?"

"Yeah," I nodded.

"If this turns out to be a load of crap I'm gonna be so pissed." Taylor's hands played around with a rusty knife of his, then one he never let go. "I don't want to realize I've been hanging out with a schizo for eight years."

I laughed. "Don't worry, I'm legit—"

"Wait, let me answer, because you know everything right?"

"You got it."

With a spring in my step and a rock in my heart, we hiked off, my father's bat swinging in my hands.


	2. Chapter 2

**Ready for chapter two? Read on fellow demigods and satyrs!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or any series spun off of it. Rick Riordan is the wonderful author. No copyright or infringement is intended.**

"Dude, I swear to the gods if I find out you've been leading me this whole time…" Taylor's voice trailed off as he stumbled on a clump of crabgrass at the side of the road.

Currently walking down the highway, heading towards Manhattan and the distant outline of the Empire State Building. I just knew we were supposed to go there. Whenever I thought about it, my heart ached, and my muscles grew tired. It was as though my body knew something I didn't, that they could afford to relax now.

"Aw, come on don't be crabby," I teased. "It's not my fault we have to walk all this way. Maybe if you hadn't mooned that truck driver we would be in the city by now."

Taylor gave me a playful shove in the shoulder, but from Taylor, it was more like a brick slapping against my skin during a gale force winds. The blow sent my staggering into the street. "Shut up," Taylor grinned. "I was working my charm."

"Yeah, but you have quite a pale complexion down there."

That cracked us both up.

After another hour we finally arrived at the Empire State Building, one of the tallest buildings in the world. It rose above the other hundreds of buildings crowding the city, breaking free of all the chaos the busy streets held.

"We need to stick together," I told my friend as we tried to shove our way through the traffic in the sidewalk. "Who knows what kind of monsters breed here."

"You talking human or Greek?" Taylor asked.

"Both."

Taylor groaned. "Man, you're such a let down. We're in the city! I don't know about you, but I spy a hotdog vendor and I'm gonna grab a dog. You want one?"

"Nah, I'm good."

"Alright, sit tight then."

I was about to grab his shoulder and yell at him that this was the very opposite of sticking together, but he was too far away by then and it was too loud to scream out something.

I was forced to content myself by sitting on a bench beside the national monument, having the Empire State's large shadow envelope me. For a while I scanned the area around us, making sure Taylor was okay as he waited in line for his hot dog while trying to make sense of why I knew to come here.

To be honest, I was slightly disappointed when there was no flashing sign reading NEW DEMIGODS THIS WAY TO SAFETY! After eight years of running around scared witless, you could say I was tired of it, of being on the road, of having to sleep in the dirt every night waiting for Taylor to wake me up for my watch.

I caught a glimpse of Taylor again before a group of teenagers blocked my view. He had been receiving his hotdog, filled to the bun with onions and mustard.

_Look at them_.

The voice startled me, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. Look at them? Look at who? Taylor? But that was singular, it had to be plural.

The teenagers? One girl caught my eye. She was beautiful, and thankfully not tugging on the arm of one of the boys like her friends. She had lovely strawberry blonde hair that curled in every direction, and her eyes shone the most brilliant blue I have ever seen. The girl glanced my way, causing me to look away, aware I was staring.

"Stop blushing," I whispered angrily to myself. "You see a girl and that head of yours goes out the window."

I risked another glance, surprised to find her still eyeing me. I risked a smile, and turned away, trying to make my obvious interest in her go unnoticed.

Taylor was gone. The idea shot me upright, and I stood on the bench to see above the heads of the passersby. By now every teenager in that small group was staring at me, and I ignored them, pretty girl included. My best friend was missing.

It's okay, I thought. He might have wandered to the side. But when I looked he wasn't there. Taylor knew he had to get back to me. He wouldn't have dared to leave without giving me a heads up.

What caught my attention was the onion-and-mustard hotdog that was lying on the sidewalk cement, discarded, the slick paper wrapper gone.

A cry ripped from my lips, and I leapt off the bench, my trusty baseball bat appearing in my hand. I shoved past the group of teens, sending more than one tumbling to the ground, and raced to the hotdog vendor. "Where'd he go?" I shouted at the man. "Where'd the kid go?"

"Kid? No kid. Kid no here. Kid leave." The vendor spoke in broken English, and even if he had been fluent, he may have been hard to understand because of his lack of good teeth.

I shoved his cart back in frustration and took off running. "Taylor!" I screamed. "Taylor!"

I sprinted down two blocks of city before I came across a white paper wrapper, the kind on the hotdog he had. To my right was a dark alleyway, where the shadows of the buildings let in little light. I dove down, my bat giving off a golden glow, lighting my way. "Taylor!" I screamed again.

"Dude!" His voice was a strangled moan, and as I neared it, I saw the source.

Two of my worst enemies were wailing on him. On his torso was a brilliant breastplate, morphed from the useless knife had always carried with him, but the metal was hopelessly crumpled, probably crushing him now rather than protecting him.

The Earthborn in question weren't giants, but Cyclops, which only brought back those awful memories once again, but I had to ignore it. I swung my bat at the first Cyclopes' head in an attempt to kill it first strike.

That plan failed miserably.

The Cyclops skull caved in, sand rushing out of the wound, but it was still kicking. It dropped Taylor and charged me, and I ducked under one of its hands and smacked it into oblivion with my bat. The attack, however, left me unprepared for the other monster. The latest one roared and smacked into me, sending my body whizzing through the air before hitting the ground with a skid.

"This was supposed to be a two for the price of one!" the Cyclops groaned. "You killed my friend."

"You're trying to eat mine!" I hissed back, smacking its shin with my weapon and rolling out of the way. I slid back into the alley, drawing the monster away from the busy city streets and Taylor, who lay unmoving on the ground.

"Silly half blood," the Cyclops grinned. "I'm stronger. I get to eat you now."

"I don't know about that," I said, leaping away from one of its hands. "I've been told I have a killer swing. Wanna see it?"

With that I gripped my bat a little tighter, brought my arms back, and surged them forward with all my might. The end of the bat smacked straight into the creature's face, sand exploded everywhere as the monster began to disintegrate. I thought it was all over then, that there was nothing more to be afraid of, but I would've been right had I moved out of the way in time, but I didn't.

The entire girth of the creature fell on me as it crumbled into dust. I scrambled and choked, trying to get out of the world's largest pile of kitty litter.

It was when I broke free and lay coughing on the disgusting alley floor when I remembered Taylor.

He was still lying on the ground, and I crawled over to him, throwing my bat aside, cradling his head in my hands. "Taylor," I murmured, patting his face. "Taylor, come on buddy. Wake up."

He groaned in reply.

I smiled. He still was in terrible shape, but at least he was alive.

"Hot… dog," he whimpered, his eyes squeezed shut.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Don't worry, I'm here." I began to unfasten the straps of his armor, gingerly lifting the metal away, Taylor crying out when I began to peel his shirt away from his skin. "I'm sorry," I whispered over and over again. "I'm so sorry."

"I'm strong," Taylor said. "If I had just seen them in time…"

"You did fine," I replied. "It was me being stupid. I should've kept watching you, but some girl caught my eye."

"You dog!" Taylor opened his eyes now, the warm brown a reassuring sight. His mouth twisted into a pained smile. "I'm dying and you're flirting?"  
"I wasn't flirting," I grinned. "And don't say that. You aren't dying. A few of your ribs are broken, that's all."

"It's hard to breath."

"I know."

I began rifling through my backpack and took out a roll of Ace bandages. Quickly I began to cover his chest, just to make sure the broken bones wouldn't shift too much. We had to get out of here and fast, and that would be difficult enough without him complaining we were doing more damage.

"Come on buddy," I said, helping him to his feet, slowly, painfully. He wrapped one arm around my shoulder and winced as we took a step, ending up with me supporting him.

"Dude, hold up, you're bleeding."

"I'm what?" Taylor brought his hand from around my head. Blood coated his fingers. I cursed under my breath. "I must've scraped it or something. Don't worry about it."

"But, Alex, that's a lot of blood."  
"Even minor head wounds bleed profusely. Come on, let's go."

"Dude, I'm serious. You're looking pale."

"Now that's a load of bull right there. I'm fine. Let's just keep following this alley until we find somewhere less crowded to keep our heads down."

As we stumbled, my arms filled with my friend and his dented armor, my bat held loosely in my belt loop, we appeared to be an odd pair.

I constantly looked back as we explored the alleyway, so when I turned forward and found that a large metal fence blocked our path I was surprised.

"There's no way you can get over that," I told Taylor. He nodded, his eyes half-lidded, panting.

"Dude, I don't know how much longer I can keep going."

My heart sank into my stomach. Taylor was a goner if I didn't get him any help. One of his bones must've punctured his lung. I didn't know how to heal that without more professional tools. We carefully turned around, and at that point Taylor gritted his teeth and slipped out of my grip.

I cradled his head and tried to keep him conscious. It was obvious by the way his face was contorted and sweat beaded on his forehead that he was in agony.

The sound of a skidding pebble made me glance up, and I jumped in front of Taylor, bat in hand. The group of teenagers was in the alley, in front of us. I caught a glimpse of strawberry blonde girl's face in the crowd, like a worried angel as she looked on.

"What are you?" I asked angrily. "More beasts to come finish the job?"

_Human._

"Human," I corrected myself. "More or less. That's alright. I can deal with human."

"That your friend?" I eyed the speaker: a tall skinny kid, his blonde hair in messy curls and a mischievous glint in his eyes. "He looks pretty beat up. So do you."

I touched the back of my head then, my fingers coming away red.

"Yeah," was all I could think of saying. The boy took a step forward, and I held out my bat. "That doesn't mean you can come towards us," I spat.

The kid held up his hands. "I'm not going to hurt him."

In my head I knew he was right. Somehow, some way, I knew. The boy came closer, edging towards my bat, gently pushing it down. "I'm Travis," he said.

"A-Alex. That's um…" I was losing my train of thought, and I was finding it harder and harder to focus than normal. "He's Tay… Taylor."

"I think you're going to pass out Alex."

And I knew he was right. My eyes rolled back into my head, I could feel my body falling towards the ground, and then I couldn't remember anything at all, just the choking darkness that seemed to drown me in its never-ending depths.

**Thanks for reading! Review if you want to :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for reading!**

My head felt like it had been filled with lead. My muscles ached in never ending soreness. Even my teeth hurt. The only thing that felt decent was my forehead. Every now and then a cool compress would be pressed against it, and a singsong voice would break the ringing in my ears.

Finally I gained enough strength to open my eyes.

I was in an open air infirmary, lying in a surprisingly comfy cot, a blanket draped over my body.

A bunch of teenagers were milling about, and I found that odd. Wasn't there supposed to be a doctor around?

All activity seemed to cease the moment a familiar blonde head and tricky eyes entered the room. Another boy tried to stop him from entering. "Travis, get out of here if you're going to swap the cotton balls with cotton candy again."

"Now Will," Travis smirked. "Would I really do such a thing? Besides, I'm here to see the new guys. Gotta show them around, you know?"

"They aren't up yet."

Travis pointed over to me, winking once before returning his attention to Will. "Alex is."

Will glanced over and I tried to wave a little. The two boys hurried to my cot side, and I tensed a bit. "Nice to see you awake Sleeping Beauty," Travis snickered.

"Where am I?" But the answer clicked in my head. "Camp Half Blood. Never mind. What is this place?" Once more, the answer popped into mind. "A camp for demigods to train. Never mind. Is this what I was looking for? Yes, it is. Never mind."

The two boys stared at me like I had grown a third arm. "I think you got hit in the head harder than we thought," Will said.

"I do that all the time," I explained. "My mom gave me this brain."

"Well, all moms give their children their brain," Travis said slowly, like I was dumb or something. Quite the opposite. "You lived with your mom?"

"No, I lived with my dad." My heart clenched. "Keyword there being lived huh?"

"Why were you in the city?" Will asked.

"I just knew to go there."

"How?"

I shrugged. "How do I know you're a son of Apollo, and he's a son of Hermes, and that this is the Camp Half Blood infirmary? I told you, my mom gave me my brain." I glanced over to my right. I could see the still form of Taylor in the cot beside mine, and I could tell he was completely faking his sleeping stupor. "Taylor's up," I said.

Will shook his head. "He hasn't moved."

"Exactly. He's faking it. Usually he'd be snoring right now." I reached behind my head and grabbed my pillow, throwing it at my friend. Taylor groaned when it hit him but threw it back.

"Dude, seriously?"

"You're such a stalker."

"You're such a cheater!"

I laughed. "It's not my fault that I—"

"Yeah, yeah," Taylor growled, opening his eyes, his arms shaking as he sat up. "You know everything. You say that everyday!"

"It never fails to be true."

Taylor rolled his eyes. "So what's the verdict Doc? Will I ever walk again?"

"Yes," I said, then sharply slapped my hand over my mouth. "Sorry, uh, Will."

Will ruffled my hair with his hand like we were good friends. "No worries, and yes, I think you'll live Taylor. We gave you some nectar and that seemed to fix you right up. Don't eat any more of it for a few days, though, alright?"

"Nectar?"

My voice was muffled under my hand as I tried to explain, but I figured it was Will's job, and I didn't want to intrude.

"It's a drink of the Greek gods. It has healing powers, and demigods can ingest a bit of it."

"A-ha! So I am a half blood! I wasn't running around with a schizo after all!" Taylor fist pumped the air.

"Hey!" I protested. "I _told_ you I wasn't a schizo."

"Yeah, well, now I know for sure."

Taylor reached out weakly with his arm and I met him halfway, bumping fists.

Will cleared his throat. "Alright boys, listen up. Alex, I'm clearing you, and Travis here will show you around. Taylor, you're, well, you're a mess, so you'll stay here for a bit longer."

"How long have I been here?" Taylor asked.

"Three days."

"Three days! That's, like, hold on for a second. Am I really that hurt?"

Will shrugged. "No, but both of you were tired. Your bodies were exhausted. They needed the rest."

I looked at Taylor pointedly, unsure if I should let him stay here alone. Taylor seemed to notice, because he waved at me dismissively. "Dude, don't worry about me, I'll be fine. There are quite a few babes around her anyway."

"And you call me the dog?" I smirked.

Travis helped me to my feet, and after a few uneasy steps, I got the hang of walking again. Travis grabbed my arm and helped me down the steps, out into a thick forest that seemed to grow throughout the camp.

"So this is Camp Half Blood," I said. "What happens now?"

"Well," Travis smiled. "I'm going to give you a tour. Show you all of our cool stuff here, and then get you a place in the Hermes cabin until you get claimed."

"But I'm already claimed," I protested.

"You're claimed?"

"Yeah, Taylor too, when we turned twelve. I thought that was obvious."

Travis said nothing but kept walking. "I think we'll talk with Chiron about that, but that's later. Right now, I'm going to show you the arena."

Travis proceeded to show me around, avoiding the cabin area I noticed, and finally ended our tour at what he called the Big House, which led us close to the infirmary. It was a sky blue building, large, with a wraparound porch decorated with columns and all things Greek. I stumbled over the steps before I was led around the porch, onto a side that overlooked a brilliant view of strawberry fields. I could smell the sweet fruity fragrance hanging thick in the air.

Two men were sitting at a plastic circular table, a game of cards on the surface as well as a few Diet Coke cans. One man stared at the game intently, not bothering to even acknowledge us as Travis and I approached them. The man continued to play, reaching out for some of his soda, not caring that he spilled half of it on his cheetah print shirt. Immediately I knew he was Dionysus, god of wine and madness.

The other man seemed kinder. He raised his head, smiled politely at us both, although his dark friendly eyes trailed over me for a time before returning to his hand. Once he made his move, he placed his hand down and waited for us to speak.

"Chiron," I blurted, before I could stop myself, "and my lord." That made Dionysus look up, his chest puffed out a bit. I slapped my hand over my mouth and glanced at Travis, who comforted me with a smile.

"No need for that," Chiron said, his voice soft and kind. "Hand down, young man."

I did so, but only after squeezing my lips tightly shut.

"Alex says he's already been claimed, his friend too."

"Oh really?" Chiron turned his head to focus on me, his eyes narrowing. "He looks older than twelve Travis. I suppose he would be right." After a moment, Chiron stood up, and I took a step back as he rose higher than any normal man could ever be. From the hem of his t-shirt to his feet—or should I say hooves?—he was a strong white stallion, his human half perfectly grafted to the horse's body.

We gave Chiron space as he walked past us and from the porch, beckoning for us to follow. Dionysus seemed a tad miffed, and with a wave of his hand, disappeared with a pop and the sudden smell of freshly pressed grapes took his place.

I sprinted to catch up the centaur. "So, Alex," Chiron began, "I presume this is yours." From a burst of bright light, my bat appeared in his hand, which he gave to me.

"Thanks," I grinned, spinning the golden weapon in my hand. "Don't know what I would do without my Louisville Slugger."

"Who gave you that?" Chiron enquired softly.

"My dad. Right before he died." I swung the bat in my hand again, relishing the feel of the grip as it scratched my palm. "Gods, I missed this thing. Good Ol' Trusty."

"You fight with that thing all the time?" Travis chirped incredulously.

I smiled. "Of course I do. Better than any blade I've come across."

We stopped in front of a large grey building, plain white curtains hanging in the windows, an owl carved over the doorway. There were no frills to this building, it was all efficiency. The door had been left open, and inside I could see neat bunk beds pushed against the walls, tables filled with maps and pencils in the middle of the room. Archways led into other branches of the cabin, and to me the inside seemed impossibly larger than the outside.

"I believe this is your cabin, Alex. Make yourself at home. I'll show Taylor to his own Heracles lodgings in due time."

My brows knitted. "How did you know?"

Chiron merely winked at me before cantering away.

Travis clapped my shoulder with one hand. "I should've seen it. The serious face, blonde hair, grey eyes… Of course you're a brain child."

"Obviously," I smirked.

"Come on, let's introduce you." Travis knocked on the door, leaning inside, his feet never entering. "Hello brain children. Come, meet your new brother!" Travis reached back and shoved me inside, letting me stagger inside. My cheeks grew hot when I felt five pairs of eyes bore holes into my head. "That is Alex. He's new… ish. Make him feel welcome."

The door slammed shut behind me, and I felt awkward standing there. "Is there some kind of protocol for this?" I squeaked.

There were three boys and two girls in the room. The girls laughed, which made me blush even harder.

One of the boys came wandering up to me, his eyes inspecting my body, and I straightened my back and stuck out my chin. "Alex huh?" he finally said.

"That's me."

"Cool bat."

My grip tightened on the handle and I pulled it closer to my body. "It was my dad's."

"Can you fight with that thing?"

I nodded. "Pretty well, I reckon."

The boy smiled. "Well, I'm rubbish with a club. Mind showing me a few pointers?" My other half siblings started cheers of "here here!"

I fought to hide a smile. "Whenever you'd like, uh…"

The boy extended his hand. "Malcolm. I'm second-in-command here. Annabeth's first… I think you'll like her, but watch out: she can be a real perfectionist sometimes." Malcolm then introduced me to the others in the room. "This is Aidan," he pointed to the other boy in the room. He was surprisingly small, with a mousy face. "There's Kara," he pointed to the girl that was tall and lean, with electric hair that flowed to her waist. "Litha," his finger directed towards the girl bent over a bunch of scrolls, reading them quickly, eyes squinted through her glasses. "And then Danielle." Danielle was the only one that actually smiled at me, and I smiled back, grateful for a little release in the room's tension.

"The others are out doing gods-know-what," Malcolm said. "Follow me—I'll show you where your bunk is."

I followed him through the labyrinth of filing cabinets and shelves, coming to a desolate bunk at the back of the room. Two archways were on either side of the bunk, one leading into a workshop that was filled to the brim with gadgetry and tools, while the other was a giant library filled with thousands of books.

I would have to hit that up later.

The top bunk was already occupied, and my backpack was resting on the mattress of the bottom. Guess that solved that problem.

**Not much action in this one, but wait for the next chapter. Thanks for reading! Review if you have any suggestions, or criticism, or even ideas :) Thanks for reading… again ;)**


	4. Chapter 4

Sticky sweat was pouring down my body, dripping from my chin, sticking my shirt to my chest, making my grip on my baseball bat treacherous.

Malcolm wasn't kidding when he said was rubbish with a club. His reflexes were too slow, and having to raise his shield to protect himself and strike at the same time was too difficult.

Of course, he had been able to get a few shots on me, ones that my shield hadn't been able to block. I was currently sporting a bruise on my side and a few nicks at my shins, since he had gone for a few cheap shots out of desperation alone. Malcolm, I was pleased to say, fared far worse than I.

I had grazed the side of his head and knocked a nice bump on it, as well as hurting his shoulder and hitting his knee, which only made him even more vulnerable.

I ducked a high swing and charged him, shoving him back, following through with the end of my bat to his neck when he lay sprawled on the dirt. "You're dead," I said, then holding out a hand. Malcolm glared at it before grabbing it and accepting the help up. "Don't be too bummed," I continued. "I've had eight years of practice, plus some baseball experience. What's your weapon of choice?"

"It's a sword," Malcolm answered.

"That explains it. It takes a few different muscles to wield a club. Strengthen those up and your reflexes should be as good as your sword ones."

Malcolm and I retreated from the middle of the training grounds over to the shade of a tall thick pine, under which a cooler filled with ice cold water bottles sat waiting. We both took a bottle, and I took a sip before dumping the rest on my head, relishing the feeling of the icy liquid sliding across my hot skin.

"You wanna go again?" I asked.

"How about I show you a few moves with a blade?"

I grinned. "That sounds good."

The tables were now turned. I had little experience wielding something like a dagger, even with the training Taylor had tried to give me during our lifelong trek to camp, and Malcolm was a master of the blade. He twirled his knife expertly while my own hand fumbled with the handle. Malcolm could lunge towards me, slice across my skin, and hop back before I could get a hit in.

After ten minutes, I was wiped out. It wasn't that my body couldn't keep going. I was just afraid that he'd screw up a blow and stab me for real. "I'm terrible at this," I mumbled as Malcolm stepped back and sheathed his weapon.

"We're opposites, that's okay. I can train with you more, if you'd like."

"I'd appreciate that Malcolm."

Malcolm stepped closer and wrapped me in his arms, squeezing hard. "Brotherly love!"

I shoved him away as quick as I could, but the rank smell of BO wouldn't leave my nose. "Ugh, man, that's disgusting," I hissed, crinkling my nose in disgust.

"Get used to it, bro," Malcolm laughed.

We sat around for another break, draining two more water bottles in the process. Malcolm hurled one to me and I smacked it away with my bat, the plastic disappearing through the trees. "You ever play?" I asked him. "You know, smack a few balls around, run around the bases?"

"Nah, we don't have a diamond here."

My jaw dropped. "Are you kidding? You have an armory, an arena, and a chariot race track. You're telling me there's no diamond at all?"

Malcolm shrugged. "Never seemed like anyone would use it."

I sighed. I was about to say something in return, but an angry snarl followed by snapping branches cut me off. Was it a monster? Malcolm looked equally as worried.

My grip tightened on my bat, feet bouncing as I got ready to run. My heart beat faster and faster, sweat dripping down my face, as the snapping drew closer and closer.

The moment the bushes rustled, I was starting to bolt, until I realized what had popped out.

"Strawberry blonde girl," I whispered, staring at the beautiful camper who had stormed over, our empty bottle in hand.

Malcolm cursed under his breath. "It was him," he smirked, pointing at me. "It was Alex!" Malcolm took off running, and although I didn't know why, it seemed like a good idea. However, before I could even take a step, a vine erupted around my foot and tripped me.

"You!" Strawberry Blonde Girl came marching over, a fire in her eyes, a frown on her face. "What kind of idiot would throw a plastic bottle into the woods when it could be recycled?"

"I'm not an idiot," I protested.

"Oh yeah, newbie. I'm sure you aren't."

"I was going to go get it." As the girl took a step forward, I took a step back, ending up tripping on the stupid vine and hitting the ground hard.

"That's what they all say," she said.

"I'm serious!" I tried to stand back up, but another vine burst from the ground and entangled itself around my wrist. "Come on, just let me up."

"Why, so you could just run away? Just because I'm a daughter of Demeter doesn't mean I'm weak. I could come after you."

"Yeah, that's great. Let me up, would ya?"

The girl eyed me warily for a moment. "Fine."

"Thank you." With a snap of her fingers the vines disappeared back into the earth, and I rose to my feet, towering over here. I reached for the water bottle and pried it from her hand. "I'll take that back. See? I'm a nice guy. I recycle." I extended my hand. "I'm Alex."

"I know." She didn't shake my hand, instead choosing to cross her arms. "I hear you're the big shot know-it-all. What's my name?"

I thought for a bit. She had a flower clip in her hair, so I thought it could've been a flowery type name, but I wasn't sure. For once, I didn't know this right away.

"I don't know," I said at last. "Athena doesn't know you, I guess. Whenever she knows something, I usually get clued in on it."

The girl smirked. "I don't know whether to be flattered or insulted."

"I'd pick flattered. I don't want you to choke me with a plant or something."

Strawberry Blonde Girl tilted back her head and laughed. "Oh really? Am I that scary?"

"Malcolm seemed to think so."

"Yeah, well, Malcolm left a bunch of energy bar wrappers out here one day, and my siblings and I got him for it. He deserves to feel scared."

My eyes widened. "Okay, I mean, I know I just left a water bottle out, but come on. I don't feel like getting weeds shoved down my pants or whatever it is you guys do."

"Don't worry. I won't try anything." She extended her hand now, finally. "I'm Thyme."

"Like, herb thyme or clock time?"

"Herb thyme."

I nodded. "Makes sense. So, Herb, can I safely say that you won't try to trip me up with your plant magic or is that still on the table?"

Thyme scowled. "I'm Thyme, not Herb, and maybe just this one time I'll let you go."

I gave her a brilliant smile. "Alright, thanks Herb. See you around."

"I'm not Herb!"

I ran off before she could change her mind.

* * *

The dining pavilion was crowded. I was sitting at the Athena table, in my seat, fighting for elbow room. The Hermes cabin was directly behind us, and I kept getting bombarded by fruit cubes that Travis and his brother would throw at me.

Taylor had made an appearance, living it up at the far away Heracles table. We locked eyes at one point, and Taylor gave me a thumbs up and mouthed _Dude, Aphrodite babes._

I gave him an awkward wave back.

"So, Alex," Aidan said, leaning across the table. "You get murdered by that Demeter girl today?"

"Malcolm told you?" He nodded. "Actually, no. I got out of it. I told her I'd recycle it and she let me off the hook."

"Aw, are you kidding?" Malcolm slammed his spork on the table. "That's ridiculous! When I did that, they jumped me. I got a mouthful of leaves and a butt loaded with tiny thorns."

"Oh yeah!" Aidan chuckled. "Those took _forever_ to get out."

"Just be nice next time," I said. "I was nice to Thyme."

"Oh, Thyme?"

My face blushed and I stared down at my cheesy macaroni. "She's nice," I said.

Before Aidan could respond, a half-sister I had yet to meet sat down on Malcolm's opposite side. Her eyes were grey and serious, her hair a mess of blonde curls that were pulled tight into a pony tail. "Capture the Flag's tonight, and we need to make sure we have our plan down tight."

"Capture the Flag?" I asked.

The table went silent. The girl peered behind Malcolm, narrowing her eyes. "You're the new kid. Alex, right?"

"You got it."

"Annabeth. You can fight?"

"Yeah."

"Are you good?"

"He's great," Malcolm interrupted. "One of your top dogs I'd say, Annabeth. I'd put him in offense if I were you. Maybe not a flag grabber, but I haven't seen how fast he can run."

"Weapon of choice?"

"Club."

"Accuracy?"

"Perfect."

"Versatility?"  
"So-so."

"Obedience?"

"Can take orders, but thinks on his feet."

Annabeth eyed me again, raking her gaze up and down my body as she analyzed my structure. "Alright. Alex, you'll be in group B with the head counselor of Apollo cabin. You'll cover him as he goes in to secure the flag, got it?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess," I mumbled.

Annabeth nodded in confirmation before addressing the rest of our cabin. "We've teamed up with the Apollo, Dionysus, and Hermes cabin. The red team is led by Ares and followed by Demeter, Heracles, Hekate, Hephaestus, and Poseidon cabins."

"There's a Big Three kid?" I gasped. "What? Since when?"

"Since ever," Malcolm whispered.

"Don't worry about him," Annabeth assured me with a smile. "I'll take care of Seaweed Brain."

Dinner ended after we all burnt an offering of food to the gods. I didn't acknowledge my mother. Sure, I got to the camp, but yeah, my father died in front of me and she hadn't done anything to stop it.

"Isn't this a little dangerous?" I asked Aidan after Chiron had made a grand speech about Capture the Flag and the current Ares victors. "I mean, hasn't anyone gotten killed doing this? What if I get stabbed or something?"

"Don't sweat," he replied as we walked to the armory to pick out a few pieces of armor for me. "You've got protection, and if Annabeth's letting you ride with Will, she thinks you can handle yourself. That's awesome." Aidan scrounged around the large shed for an appropriate breastplate before tossing it to me. Next, he handed over a helmet complete with a blue horsehair plume. I felt like a moron wearing it. "And besides, no one's gotten killed in years."

We began walking back to the cabin, getting ready to listen to the last minute additions to our plan. "Just, you know, out of curiosity… how did the last person die?"  
"That kid? Yeah, he was a good fighter and all. Just got too cocky… and he pissed off a Demeter kid."

My heart stopped. "Nice try," I said, though my voice may have been shaking.

"No, I'm dead serious." When I stared at my brother, I tried to find any sign of a lie, finding none. It was too dark to see his eyes well enough.

"Dude, come on," I said. "That's gotta be a lie, right?"

Aidan shrugged. "Best not to tell ya. Don't worry about it. We've gotta battle to win!"

"Dude!"

**Kidding or not kidding? ;)**

**Thanks for reading, hoped you liked it!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks for reading! Once again, I do not own PJO. It is all from the mind of the wondrous Rick Riordan.**

** I would just like to give a quick shout out to Mandi2341 and DiamondsGirl101. Your wonderful reviews have keep me inspired to keep writing. :)**

I was reunited with Will Solace as the blue team all gathered by our flag, which we had placed in a small clearing. Rules stated it had to be visible and easily obtainable by hand, yet ten feet around the flag the Hermes cabin were already busy creating trip lines that would explode paint bombs when hit.

Two of the Hermes cabin were left to defend the flag, a few Apollo campers vowing to stay nearby, ready to attack any enemy that dared come close to the flag. The rest of our manpower split into three groups: A, B, and C. Group A consisted of majority of the campers, who would be the main force in distracting and fending away the enemy as they made their charge through the woods.

Group B consisted of Will, Travis, his brother Connor, and I, and we were supposed to attack the enemy flag base from the side, while Group C consisting of Annabeth, Malcolm, Aidan, and two more Apollo campers were coming from the other in a pincer movement.

At least, that was what I was _supposed _to do before Annabeth pulled me aside. "New plan Alex," she began. "You're going solo. You have the Demeter cabin on your back, and we need them to be as distracted as possible. The Ares kids only won last time because the Demeter campers tripped up our entire team with their plant magic. Can you distract them, as long as you can, in order for our team to slip by unnoticed? Pollux will be able to help. Run out with him, okay?"

My palms felt sweaty. "Uh, yeah. I'll try my best, Annabeth."

"Good." The entire time she didn't even smile. With a pat on my shoulder, she left me, and I hurried back to my group.

"I have to distract the Demeter cabin," I said.

"Don't worry," Connor snickered. "You'll just get choked out by a few dandelions."

"Stop," I hissed. "First game and I'm already getting singled out for a world of hurt."

"Good luck to ya kid."

"Gee, thanks."

I walked over to the lone Dionysus camper. He had an angelic face, chubby and rosy cheeks, twinkling eyes, and ruby red lips. He seemed calm as I approached him, and held out his hand for me to shake. "Hey Alex," the boy said. "I'm Pollux. We'll run out with the main group and draw the Demeter kids away. Sound like a plan?"

"Yeah," I nodded, my throat sore. "Sounds good."

Truth was, I wasn't always up for fighting. It was scary enough to battle the monsters that had crawled out of Tartarus, but to fight the other campers as though we were headed to war? Not my cup of tea. I didn't care if I was son of the goddess of wisdom and battle; I was my father's kid, and he had taught me to be polite, to never use a mean word, and to only attack when in defense. Sounds stupid, I know, but that was how I grew up—not in some demigod training camp paying homage to my goddess mother, but in a quiet suburban city in a nice neighborhood before fleeing across the country to find refuge.

The sound of a conch rang out, and Pollux and I raced out with Group A, roaring at the top of our lungs, all of my concerns now gone as I fought for space with my teammates.

Soon enough I could see the red plumes of the enemy as they came charging to meet us, weapons up in the air, shields at the ready, snarls sewn onto their faces.

My ears exploded in pain as we collided in screeching metal and cries of pain.

My first opponent was an Ares kid, who had drew up his shield to protect himself as I came at him. I leapt and slammed into it with both feet, toppling the boy, rushing further into the lines. Pollux was already goading a few Demeter kids, threatening to gas their cabin with weed killer. I sifted through the crowd, battling to find the one person I knew would jump at the chance to beat me black and blue.

I found her near Pollux, and yelled her name to a) relieve my comrade from some of the enemy forces, and b) implement my own plan. "Hey Herb!" I screamed out. Thyme spun around, a staff in her hand. When she saw me, she scowled. "Hey you stupid hippies!" I cried, attracting the attention of more of the Demeter cabin. "You think you can defeat me? Ha! I'm the almighty. I know it all, and I know you can't lay a hand on me!" I dug a cracker wrapper from dinner out of my pocket and dropped it on the ground.

Thyme and her siblings howled in anger as they charged. I took off running, avoiding the main battle, rushing through the trees with ease, making sure to not stay in one place long enough for a plant to come up and trap me.

When I found a good place, rocky, not too many plants showing, I stopped and whirled around, bat at the ready, shield on my arm and raised.

Thyme was the first to come at me, running to encircle me as her siblings arrived. Pollux was nowhere to be seen.

"You think you're so clever," hissed a boy, tall, muddy blonde hair covering his eyes through his helmet. "Throwing trash around just to prove you're powerful. I'll smack you down to size."

"I thought all you plant lovers were supposed to spread the love and stuff," I smirked. "You know, kinda gives off a Woodstock."

"You can shove that love right up your—"

"Oliver," Thyme snapped. "Stop. Let's just tie him up and move on."

"No way," said one of her sisters. "I'm sick of having people run their mouths at us. This will send quite a message."

"But Miranda wouldn't—"

"Well Miranda isn't here," growled Oliver. "She may be our counselor, but she has no backbone."

"Just don't hurt him too bad," Thyme said.

"Like any of you can get a shot at me," I said. I was hoping our conversation could last a little longer, seeing as five to one wasn't quite the best odds, but I knew I needed to start fighting. If I lashed out first, that would surprise them all.

I lunged forward, hitting Oliver square in the stomach with my bat, whirling around and smacking Thyme with it after. She tumbled back, and I turned around in time to get a face full of dagger hilt.

Yummy.

I hit the ground and rolled, ignoring the pain of my bleeding nose and the stinging of my teary eyes. With one swift smack to the back of the knee, I sent one Demeter kid down and avoided the other.

A sharp shooting pain radiating from my spine sent me tumbling down. I rolled once again, but when I was on my back, someone's boot stomped down on my arm and held me in place. For a moment, I was stunned, then tried to lash out with my legs, but to my horror an entanglement of grass and weeds had wrapped around them, keeping them firmly in place.

"I'm dead," I whispered, my eyes widening when I saw Oliver come pounding over. He stomped on my free arm, the one holding the shield. It had been slightly propped up at the time, unable to go all the way to the floor because of the shield.

My head tilted back in a small scream, feeling my bone snap, the splinters stabbing into my muscle. "What the hell?" I roared. "A stab wound would hurt less than that!"

"You want to find out?" Oliver hissed.

"Oliver, stop!" Thyme said. "You idiot, you really hurt him!"

"I tripped and accidentally stepped on him, no big deal."

"We need to get Chiron. That was pretty out of line, man." Oliver glared at the brother that spoke. "People get broken bones all the time, but they don't after getting tied down. That's sick."

"Whatever. You all said we should make him an example, and now I did!"

My attention wavered from the conversation to my arm to a slight crawling sensation on my pant leg. I looked down, taking a moment to focus my blurry eyes, and shrieked like a little girl.

On my legs, near the vines wrapping my knees, was a little white ball with what seemed like a million black bugs crawling from it. Upon closer inspection they proved, horribly, to be a pack of spiders.

Spiders: eight-legged insects of death that hated the Athena kin from the day Athena won the weaving contest versus Arachne. They always found me, no matter where I was, trying to bite me with their pincers.

"Get them off me!" I screamed, thrashing around madly. "Get them off!"

The creepy crawlies scaled higher and higher, now at my stomach. The Demeter kids backed off, confused at what was happening. I couldn't reach to untie my legs for fear of getting a spider on my arm, and I couldn't smack at them with my bat. It was too dull to cut the blades of grass and I didn't want spider guts on my clothes, all the while bludgeoning myself to death.

A familiar voice yelled out, racing over to me, cutting the grass with a knife and yanking off my trousers. I tore off my shirt and scattered away from the army of arachnids, shaking all over in nothing but my plumed helmet and my grey boxers. Luckily, I had put on a fresh pair that morning.

"Man I love you right now," I choked, my eyes still wide, giving Taylor a nervous side hug as he finished stomping on my clothes.

"Don't worry dude, I got your back, even if we're on opposite teams. Take off your helmet, you look ridiculous."

"Great, thanks." I reached for it with my left hand, immediately regretting it. My arm flipped backwards unnaturally, at the break of the bones.

My scream was silenced by the sound of the conch going off. Taylor sighed. "Man, my first game here and we lose," he said.

"How do you know?" Thyme asked.

"Well, without you guys to trip up the enemy, they plowed over most of us, then some of them snuck in, took the flag, and raced out. I think it was Malcolm who grabbed it."

"I was a distraction," I said weakly. "Annabeth knew I could get you guys to chase after me instead. Worked pretty well, I'd say."

"Big words for a guy in his underwear," Oliver spat.

"You come a step closer to this guy in his underwear and I'll hang you by yours on the top of the dining hall," Taylor retorted, making a show of raising his massive arms nonchalantly. "Oh, and if you don't know me, I'm Taylor, from Heracles cabin. You know, he's the strong guy."

"Consider him like Popeye," I smiled. "Eating and beating plants only makes him stronger."

Taylor grinned wickedly. "Dude, I kinda dig that."

I was shaking even more now. "Come on, let's go find Chiron. I'm kinda tired right now."  
Taylor shrugged and bent to pick up my stuff. "Alright, let's go. Hey, by the way, is your arm okiay? What happened to it?"

Oliver sprinted away at that moment. Taylor eyed his direction suspiciously, then shrugged. "Oliver stepped on it," I said. "It's nothing, really. Let's just find Chiron."

"He stepped on your arm?" Taylor gasped. "On purpose?"

"Yeah, but don't worry about it. It'll heal right up and—Taylor, stop! Come on man! Don't do this!"

My friend had taken off running, chasing after the Demeter boy, brandishing my bat. "You're dead you plant-loving nature guru! You hear me? Dead!"

I sighed. He had a bit of his father in him for sure. I turned my back on the campers, beginning to trudge my way through the trees, when Thyme came running up. "Hey, wait," she called.

"Look, I don't want to talk right now, okay?" I said, my teeth gritted as every step brought a new wave of pain from my arm. Regardless, I would have leapt at the chance to talk to her again, but my eyes were tearing up and I didn't want her to see me cry. My arm hurt too bad, and I couldn't fight back the tears welling up. They'd eventually come out and I wouldn't be the tough cool new kid I was hopefully becoming. "At least, is that okay?"

"You're asking me?" Thyme asked. "It's your choice Wise One."

"Okay then." We walked in silence for a bit more, she still by my side. "Why are you staying?"

"Maybe I like the view."

"Oh. The trees are pretty beautiful, I suppose."

Thyme sighed before giggling. "I meant you. For an Athenian, you're kinda slow."

"I'm not slow," I countered. "Just… I don't talk to girls. I don't know what they act like or think about. That stuff."

"You've never talked to another girl?"

"Well, I have, but I mean, with a few, but we only talked for a short time, and then I would leave and never see them again."

"So, Taylor never has either?"

I snorted. "He doesn't talk to them so much as make out with them. He just flexes his muscles and boom! He's got a girl by the lips." I turned my head to stare at Thyme. Her staff was gone, her helmet tucked under her arm, her white lily clip in her hair. The way the sunlight that filtered through the treetops and hit her face gave her the appearance of a glowing goddess. "Aren't Demeter kids generally more soft spoken? It's kind of brazen to comment on one's body."

Thyme shrugged. "Usually, but like back there, we can hold grudges pretty well, especially over litterers. We can become quite… reckless, I suppose. I'm really sorry about that."

"It happens. I guess Demeter kids aren't very moral after all." I slapped my hand over my mouth. "I didn't mean that. I'm sorry, it just kinda came out. It always does."

Thyme nodded but said not a word. We cleared the forest, immediately spotting Chiron, who was supervising the transport of wounded campers to the infirmary. Thyme left me as I headed over. A few boys laughed, some of the girls cheered, and my face bloomed bright red, but I trudged over to Chiron.

"Dear gods," Chiron said when he saw, trying to be polite and hide a smile. "What happened to you, Alex?"

"Spiders happened," I replied vaguely, shaking slightly, "and Oliver from Demeter crushed my arm. It's no big deal, honestly."

"And where is Oliver now?"

I shrugged. "Taylor went berserk and started chasing him. He's bound to show up some time."

"Ah, yes, well, head off to the infirmary. Do check in later."

"Alright sir." And I walked away, head up, a few tears dripping down my cheeks, heading to the infirmary in nothing but my underwear.

Lovely.

**Thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Next update might be a tad bit later, because school is starting up again. D: Thanks for reading!**

The infirmary was busy, to say the least. Healers were rushing about like medical teams, attending to the wounded campers that came in. The Apollo kids still had on pieces of their armor, so it appeared that they went straight to work after they emerged from the forest battleground.

Will rushed over to me, a smile on his face. "Nicely done newbie," he grinned. "You distracted them nicely."

"Yeah, but Pollux disappeared," I spat. "I took those Demeter kids alone, and one of them smashed my arm. Can you help me?"

"Sure, follow me," Wills said, navigating the chaotic room with ease. "I'll grab you a pair of scrubs too."

My face became incredibly hot. "Thanks," I whispered.

"No problem. Come on, there's an empty cot near Percy."

"Percy?" The name brought anger surging through my veins, harboring a load of hatred for some unknown reason.

"Yeah, Percy Jackson. He's a son of Poseidon. Let me tell you, _that_ caused a whole boatload of problems."

I sat in a quiet corner of the room, a boy, tall, definitely older and more ripped than me, sat nearby, his green eyes watching me unabashed as I waited to be tended to.

"You're Alex?" he asked suddenly.

"Yeah," I replied, hoping he'd end the conversation right there.

"Annabeth's brother?" I nodded and turned away. "She said you were something special. You get a voice in your head sometimes?"

"It's my mom," I said softly. "At least that's what I think. If I have a question and she knows the answer, it'll pop up and I'll know it too."

"That's pretty neat."

"Not really," I snapped. "I wouldn't expect a water boy like you to understand." I slapped my hand over my mouth, eyes wide. "I'm sorry," I said quickly. "I didn't mean it. I guess Athena doesn't like you for some reason. I'm really sorry about that."

Percy tilted back his head and laughed. "Don't worry about it."

Will saved me from my embarrassment and came over, setting my arm in a splint, giving me a good dose of nectar and ambrosia, and handing me a pair of flimsy green hospital pants. I tugged them on quickly and sat back, waiting for my arm to heal fully.

"So, Alex," Percy began. "What was your part today?"

"I was used as bait," I hissed. "Annabeth changed my spot last minute. Pollux was supposed to help me, but he disappeared."

Percy laughed. "I know how you feel. First time I played, a whole bunch of Ares kids ambushed me. Not very fun."

"Yeah, but you're Percy," I smiled. "You just kicked their butts with your water mastery right?"  
"I guess you could call it that."

Will gave me the okay after half an hour, and in that time I had decided that Athena was—once again—overreacting. Percy was a cool kid. Funny, a little quirky, but all in all a good friend to have. The way he talked about Annabeth made her seem like she was the best person in the world, a true genius that could do no wrong.

Of course, I was still steaming and felt otherwise.

I made it back to my cabin, absolutely fuming, filth matting my hair and skin. My entire cabin was celebrating, albeit there was only quiet classical music playing, no sodas, and everyone was sitting down and just talking, but at least they did it with smiles on their faces.

Aidan sniggered when he saw me. "I told you those Demeter kids were a real riot," he said.

"Shut up," I spat. "Thanks to you guys I got a broken arm and covered in spiders. Really felt the love today."

"Hey, you became initiated," Malcolm teased. "Everyone had to be."

"I didn't think you guys shoved one another out to the wolves," I continued. "Next time, make sure that Oliver kid gets knocked out before he comes after me."

I went into the tiny bathroom and washed my face, changing into real shorts and tugging on a t shirt. "I'm going out to find Taylor," I scowled, grabbing a jacket as I went. "Don't wait up."

The sky was quickly darkening, and soon it became hard to see. I wasn't going to head into the forest weaponless, so I contended myself with wandering around the common area.

There was a girl walking around, bright red hair in flaming curls, two rabbit slippers on her feet and a dull look on her face. Something felt off about her. The way she was walking, it was as though she were in a trance, not even moving her green eyes to scan the ground so she wouldn't trip.

I started to walk over to her and see if she was alright when she stopped in front of the Demeter cabin. I stopped short, wondering if I should even get close to the hippy hostel, when the girl knocked on the door. Thyme answered, and immediately the red head began to glow bright green.

At first, I thought it was a trick of the light, that maybe my eyes were tired and I wasn't seeing right. However, that all changed the moment green smoke began billowing out of her mouth and gathered around her body, her eyes glowing. "_You shall travel west to find deities of silver_," I started to run to Thyme, wishing I had my bat in hand in case this whack job tried to attack my friend, "_Seeking the one traveling the ill-fated river._" Thyme glanced up at me, her face terrified. "_You shall return with only one in the end, not the one who abandoned those closest for a friend._"

The fog cleared and the girl's eyes snapped shut. The moment she began to fall, I reached in and grabbed her, gently lying her on the ground, careful to cradle her head as she regained consciousness.

"Ugh, gods," the girl groaned. "Where am I?"

"You're at the Demeter cabin," Thyme said. "Rachel, do you remember what happened?" Rachel shook her head no. "You just… oh my gods, you just gave me a quest."

"A quest?" I asked. "What do you mea—oh, wait, never mind," I added as the answer popped into mind, the voice appearing in my head again. _They are fate, and a duty to carry out. They change the world Alex, mortal or otherwise._

Wonderful, I thought. Way to make it sound creepy Mom.

A few campers came running, word traveling incredibly fast, Chiron galloping up in no time at all. First, he made sure Rachel was alright before having a camper lead her to the Big House. Next, he put a hand on Thyme's shoulder. She had been shaking, so I had draped my jacket over her, zipping it up to keep her warm. I wondered if Chiron could feel her trembles.

"You need to come to the Big House with me. We'll discuss it further there. Alex," Chiron turned to me, "gather the counselors, send them over right away."

"Yes sir, right away." I was going to run away, but I stopped. "Everything will work out Thyme," I said. "I know it, and I know everything." She smiled, her sad eyes glimmering with slight hope. I ran off after that, into the night, gathering up the campers like Paul Revere warning the colonists, my heart racing a million miles apart.

_Everything will work out Thyme_, I had said. Only thing was, I didn't know that for sure. Not at all.

* * *

I slept surprisingly well that night. Despite the latest events, I had been tired out by the battle and fell asleep almost the moment my head hit the pillow. When I awoke, the cabin was empty, the others most likely already headed to arts and crafts. I guess this was how they paid me back for being put out as bait.

I showered and dressed, stepping out into the bright morning sun. A few Aphrodite girls were playing volleyball in nothing but skimpy bikinis, and I had to admit that I stared for a little longer than necessary, but let's be honest—how can you pass up daughters of beauty?

"Hi Alex," giggled one tall brunette. I didn't realize she knew who I was. "Maybe you can come by the hot springs later," she smiled, winking one of her eyes.

I really hoped they didn't see me blush, turning my face down, incredibly uncomfortable.

"You were very adorable last night," another added. "I, like, love seeing a guy that can be emotional."

"I liked him first," hissed her sister. "Love your abs Alex!"

"Uh, thanks," I coughed. "You're not so, er, bad yourself."

The volleyball girls erupted in a fit of excited shrieks. I waved goodbye and hurried away, jogging to the arts and craft building, finding my siblings all gathered around tables, chipping away at blocks of marble as they worked together to create a flock of owls for our cabin roof. "Morning Alex," Malcolm said, not bothering to peer up from his work. "Pollux was looking for you. Go swing by the fields and talk to him."

"Uh, okay." I ran to the fields and searched for him there, finding no one, daring to ask one of the Demeter kids where I could find him. They said his cabin most likely, so I headed out to find it. Of course, it was fairly easy to find. It was the only one with grape vines everywhere, purple fruit hanging down from wooden lattices. The door was ajar, so I opened it rather insensitively. It took a moment to adjust to the interior's darkness, but once I had, I knew I had found him.

Pollux was sitting up in the far bed, only one of two in the room. Tissues littered the top of the duvet, and the boy was staring at a picture in his hands, sniffling every now and then. The bed beside his was messy, undone, with clothes around it and candy wrappers still littering the bedside. I wondered if he slept in both.

"Uh, hi Pollux."

The boy jolted upright, seeing me, climbing out of bed, and wiping at his eyes quickly. "Hey Alex. Uh, come in."

"Is that allowed?"

Pollux gave a weak smile. "Uh, no I guess it's not. Well, um, thanks for coming."

"Are you okay?" I asked. "Your eyes look kind of irritated."

"It's my birthday," he said. "I'm just really… depressed right now." He motioned to the messy bed. "I had a twin, Castor. He… he died during the big Battle of the Labyrinth. You've heard of it right?"

"Yeah, I mean, man, I didn't know. I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean to rub that in your face or…"

"Do you know what it's like to lose someone that close?" Pollux said suddenly, eyes looking off in the distance. "It's like having half your soul ripped out. People pity me, and I hate it. They think I'm quiet Pollux who's silently suffering, then they forget about me. I wish they would just stop. I have to sleep in the same room where he slept. Everyday I wake up knowing that I will never hear his voice again, or yell at him to wash his laundry soon, or…" Pollux angrily wiped at his eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm ranting. I just came here to tell you I'm sorry for ditching you last night. I didn't mean to. Some kid came up and started fighting me."

"It's not a problem," I said. "Don't worry about it. Stuff happens. And Pollux, I know what you're going through. I lost my parents when I was young. My dad and I were as close as can be."

"Thanks Alex." I began to step away, but Pollux called me back. "Be careful out on your quest. I've lost a brother, and I don't want to lose another."

"Dude," I said. "We're brothers?"

"We fight together and win together. You're a good guy Alex."

"You too, but I'm not on a quest."

Pollux nodded to someone behind me. "Thyme's heading over here. She had a backpack on. I figure she'll ask you to join her. She can take two others with her."

"Oh, thanks dude, and um… Happy birthday."

"Yeah," Pollux snorted. "Happy." He shut the door.

I whirled around and found Thyme bee-lining over, so I met her halfway. "Hey Herb," I grinned. "What's up? You all psyched for your quest?"

Thyme swept a lock of her strawberry blonde hair from her eyes, the green sparkling in the light. She gave me a small smile. "I'm nervous," she admitted. "I've never been on one before, and I have a vague deadline."

"What do you mean?"

"Mr. D came back from Olympus when I was telling Chiron what the Oracle said. He was all upset over something about Lady Artemis not showing up for meetings, and how something was keeping her away. Zeus is threatening to take away her immortal realm if she doesn't return to the throne in eight days, more specifically, the first of September."

"Oh, well," I said, a tad surprised. "You should get going then. You don't have much time. Do you even know where to go?"

Thyme shook her head. "No, but I need a good team to help me figure it out."

"Who're you going to take?"

"I was hoping you would like to come along, actually."

My eyes widened. "Really? I mean, I don't have any quest experience at all. Are you sure?"

"Yeah," she nodded confidently. "You have tons of experience fighting monsters. You have a good head on you too, and you're not always annoying."

"Hey," I smiled. "I'm not annoying anytime."

Thyme flashed me her deluxe _don't push your luck_ glare. "So are you coming or not?"  
I took a moment to think. I had heard the prophecy. Could just be me being paranoid, but I wasn't too stoked about the ill-fated river and the abandonment. It didn't quite seem to be a walk in the park. Besides, I had just gotten to camp. It had been nice to sleep in an actual bed with a roof over my head and not have to worry about monsters attacking me during my sleep.

But I would spend more time with Thyme.

"I'll do it."

**Wanna see if my review button works? ;)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Thank you to everyone who has favorited, followed, and reviewed my story, as well as everyone that reads it but don't say anything. I appreciate it all! Hope you enjoy, and sorry this one was longer to get out. The next might be later as well… Oh school woes…**

The weather outside of camp was awful. It was pouring outside, and the raindrops slammed against the airbus windows as we hurtled down the freeway.

I had the lucky window seat, Thyme in the middle, Taylor at the aisle. Thyme had neglected to tell me Taylor was coming along as well. I understood her reasoning—Taylor had just as much experience as me, and he had proven his worth as a master of strength. He was a valuable asset to the team.

I still wished he hadn't come along. If anything happened to him… I couldn't take another lose.

Argus had driven us to the bus depot as soon as we had packed. All of us had backpacks filled with clean changes of clothes, toothbrushes and toothpaste, drachmas, mortal dollars, and a first aid kit that included a few snacks and water. We had bought bus tickets that took us as far as Columbus, Ohio, and by the rate of the driver's speeding, we should arrive there by the next morning.

Thyme nudged my shoulder. "Let's go over the quest," she whispered quietly. "So it says first '_You shall travel west to find deities of silver_._'_"

"That's gotta to be Lady A," Taylor murmured. "People say she glows silver."

"That's not a very good argument," I said. "Percy told me about his travels once. He said there's the Hunters of Artem—"

"Don't say her name Alex," Thyme said. "It'll draw monsters attention."

"Oh, right. Okay, but apparently there's Hunters of Lady A, like girls who swore off love and boys to become her immortal followers. They glow silver, and they're like daughters to Lady A. One of them could be hurt, or missing, or something, and that's why she's being kept away."

No response in my head, but I thought I was right on this. Apparently, Mom didn't know either or she was just being her ignorant self again.

"That would make sense," agreed Thyme. "The next line says '_Seeking the one who travels the ill-fated river_.' That must be one of the hunters. They must be trying to find her but can't."

"What's the 'ill-fated river?'" Taylor asked. "Is there like a deadly river down there? Maybe it's notorious for deaths?"

Thyme closed her eyes and rubbed her temples with her fingers, her mouth frowning. "I only know of one, but I'm hoping I'm wrong. I've seen in on some of the updated maps that are in the war room of the Big House. Annabeth edited them when she came back from one of her quests with Percy."

"Just spit it out," Taylor said. "Come on Thyme, it can't be that bad."

"It's, well… It's the River Styx. It flows through the Underworld, and it holds all the lost hopes and dreams of the deceased that travel it."

"So a Hunter died then?"

"Not necessarily. It's rare, but some people are able to come back from the Underworld still alive. Hercules did it. Orpheus did it."

"Wasn't Orpheus the guy that tried to bring back his wife or something?" Taylor interjected.

That sparked an idea. "Yeah," I added, trying to sound nonchalant. "What happened?"

"Well," said Thyme, "As far as I know, Orpheus wanted his wife back, so Hades said that if he didn't look at her as they walked back up to living world, she could live again. However, the journey was hard. All he wanted to do was look back at his wife and see her again. She kept begging him to turn around, but he persisted. When he was almost there, he looked back and poof! There goes the wife."

"That's sad," Taylor sighed.

"Yeah, but is it possible?" I asked. "Orpheus only failed because he looked back when he was in the living world and she wasn't. Someone could succeed."

"The chances are very slim," Thyme reasoned. "It's not a good risk to take."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." But my head was running a mile a minute as I turned to look back out the window.

* * *

We were stopped in Columbus in the early hours of the morning, the air bus getting gas and draining the sewage tank of the tiny bathroom on board. Taylor, Thyme and I stepped out to stretch our legs for a bit, taking turns waiting for the gas station bathroom as we waited for the driver to give us the go ahead to get back on.

We all headed back to the bus. Thyme stopped us for a moment so she could ravage through her backpack. I kept walking and looked out at the airbus.

My blood ran cold. "Guys," I whispered, my words caught in my throat. "We have a problem."

"What is it?" Taylor came up beside me, Thyme right behind. Our driver was arguing with a tall man, dressed in a uniform, while another stepped inside the bus and ransacked the baggage. The driver was enraged, face red, as he inspected the badge the man had given him.

But I knew better. That was no man.

"Earthborn," Thyme gasped, and the officer's head snapped towards us, one black eye unblinking. We crept back into the shadows, peering out again moments later, relieved to find it was looking away. "They're looking for us."

"We need to move, now," I said, hurrying into the gas station through the back, keeping my head low from the cameras as I grabbed a plastic bag and began stuffing it with as much food and supplies as I could. Taylor followed, and we snuck around the store, well practiced in this technique. We headed out and ran with Thyme out to the neighboring woods, all the while anger running through my veins, angry at letting those Cyclops live, angry at them for killing my family and taking everything away from me.

I didn't notice the others were tired of running until Taylor stopped me. "Dude," he panted. "Stop. We'll keep walking, but I can't run anymore."

"Okay."

My bat had been hanging from my belt loop the entire time, and I pulled it out, the celestial bronze glow illuminating our way as the sky refused to lighten.

"My first quest and we're already screwed," Thyme wailed. "It'll be my only quest because, who're we kidding, we're all going to die anyway."

"Quite moaning," I snapped. "We'll have to walk a bit until we find a car, and I would rather have to do that in silence rather than pessimistic comments."

"I'm stating the obvious."

"If it's obvious, why haven't I realized it?"

"Girls," Taylor interrupted. "Girls, you're both pretty. Now can we please just keep going? Thyme, tell us about yourself. How long have you been at camp?"

Thyme took a moment to think. "Five years, since I was ten. I was living with my dad. He liked to sculpt with plants." She shook her head. "He rarely looked up from his work to take care of me."

"I'm sorry," I said. "I can't imagine how awful that must've been."

"Yeah," Taylor agreed. "Alex was very close with his dad, until some Earthborn killed him."

"Say it any harsher why don't you?" I hissed.

"Alex was nine. He ran off, we met up after I ran away from home, found out the same monsters were after us, and ta-da! Here we are."

"How did you two manage? You were both awfully young." Thyme eyed us with amazement. "You two are incredibly lucky, you know that?"

"We were smart and street-tested," I managed to crack a smile. "We make a good team don't we Taylor?"

"For sure, my man, for sure!" Taylor fist-pumped the air once before stumbling on a rock. Thyme and I laughed at his expense. "Shut up and keep walking," he said, cheeks bright red.

* * *

We were still headed west but thankfully we weren't walking anymore. Taylor had discovered a car in the parking lot of a Sav-On. It had been covered in a layer of dust, and it didn't look like it had been used in a long time. With Taylor's trusty knife, we were able to unlock the door and get inside.

"I'm not so sure about this," Thyme said as she slid across the bench seat.

"It's a rusty old truck," Taylor replied. "Don't worry about it. People dump their old cars and get new ones all the time. Good news is, there must be some gas still left in the tank. I call driver!"

"Nu-uh," I smiled. "I know how to hot wire this thing, so I get to drive it."

"You'll look like a nine-year-old behind the wheel. I'm getting a beard. I should drive."

I rolled my eyes. "One chin hair isn't a beard you idiot. I'm driving."

We had been on the road for a while now. Except for the occasional stops for gas or bathroom breaks, we never stopped.

We drove nonstop for longer than we wanted. Soon four days of our quest time had been taken up, and other than the momentary panic of a passing police cruiser, our supposedly dire quest was relatively boring.

"Okay, when's something exciting going to happen?" Taylor said as he lay sprawled in the back seat. Thyme had been driving, and we were now passing through the lovely state of Idaho, home of the potato.

"Something isn't right," Thyme muttered. To me she seemed positively country belle-esque, with her hair in a loose braid, jean shorts on and paired with a loose top. She was prettier than the magnificent fields that blurred by or the sunrise that had broken only minutes ago. "We haven't had much trouble expect when we left the airbus. Taylor's right, something should've happened by now."

"Don't say that," I said. "Both of you are going to jinx us. Let's just concentrate on finding our '_deities of silver_.' We have four more days to complete this quest, and if not gods know what's—"

A loud screech cut me off, and our truck wobbled and veered to the right as an unknown force careened into it. "What was that?" Taylor screamed.

I tried to get the voice in my head to answer, but it was silent.

Thanks Mom.

Taylor began winding down one of the windows and tried to stick his head out. "Don't, you idiot!" Thyme screamed. "Do you _want_ to die?"

"We will with the way you're driving!"

"Hey!" I shouted as three sharp _talons_ pierced through the roof. "We've got bigger issues to worry about!" From the side and rear view mirrors, I could just catch a glimpse of the beast attacking us. "It has wings," I said. "Brown, disgusting, huge wings."

"Is it a Kindly One?" Taylor yelled.

"Don't think so, talons are colored different."

I grabbed my bat. "Taylor, distract it on the other side. If it keeps this up, we'll crash. I'll try and smack it."

"Sounds good bro." Taylor scrambled to his window and began to tentatively climb halfway out, ducking away from a beak as it tried to peck at him. "Guys, it's a giant bald eagle. Like, dude, this would make an awesome roast. Do you think this one counts as being protected?"

"It's gonna die either way," I replied, now climbing out my own window, watching as the bird turned towards Taylor, its wings flapping and brown feathers dislodging. I had to spit one out of my mouth.

Taylor now had on his breastplate, boldly grabbing at the bird's head as it tried to pierce the metal. "Dude hurry up and whack it!" he cried as he got a good hold and hung on.

I clambered onto the bird, yanking on its wing as I stood on the top of the car, striking out once at its throat.

Everything was all and well until the car took a sudden left hand turn, the force making Taylor release his grip, desperate to stop from falling from the truck. Unfortunately that meant the bird jolted back, already mortally injured. When it screeched, I noticed a sliver of sparkling grey fabric stuck inside its mouth, but I ignored it as one wing smacked me. My bat arm flew out, impaling the eagle, its monstrous size keeping me in place for a moment before it unlatched its claws, turning so fast I was barely able to avoid its sharp nails.

With one swipe the bird grabbed onto my shirt, yanking us up in the air. Taylor screamed for me, and I tried to beat at it. Monster dust fell in my face, nausea threatening to reveal the dinner of beef jerky I had eaten hours earlier. I was getting pelted by disgusting dusty monster organs. Wasn't being kidnapped by a Greek super-sized eagle enough?

Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a few flashes of gold. Next thing I knew, the ground was coming towards me, faster and faster. The trees began to become more defined now than little splotches of green on the ground, and I could see Taylor and Thyme's worried faces more clearly as I hurtled towards my imminent death.

I crashed into a tree canopy. Before I could even begin to suffer from the pain of smacking the branches and most likely cutting me in half, I knocked my head on the tree trunk and saw stars in my eyes, letting myself get pulled towards them, out into the darkness that not even their rays could penetrate.


	8. Chapter 8

**Here you go! Enjoy readers :)**

I awoke with a start, panicked, wondering why I was lying on a grass mat instead of dangling from the branches of some tree. My head was pounding, and for a moment, all I could think of was eating bird feathers and drowning in a giant pit of kitty litter.

When I opened my eyes, the light stabbed into them, and I groaned and rubbed them with the back of my hand. Finally I was able to see.

A young girl was near me, perhaps the tender age of ten, amber hair pulled tight into a curly pony tail that bounced whenever she moved her head. The girl was unaware of me being awake, and was playing contentedly with the hem of her glimmering silver shirt, singing a little song under her breath.

Looking around, there were quite a few girls dressed like her running about, setting up shelters and fires. With a glance at the darkening sky, I realized I had to have been out for at least thirteen hours.

My hand searched blindly for my baseball bat, yet it was nowhere to be found. I figured that if the girl meant me any harm, I could take her in a heartbeat and make sure she didn't squeal to her comrades. "Excuse me?" I said softly.

The young girl jumped, eyed me, then took off. "The boy's awake! The boy's awake!"

Before I could get to my feet, almost positive I was in a bad situation, I had ten arrows trained on me, their archers only a few yards away. "Don't move," said one of the girls.

"Gee, thanks for that useful bit of advice," I snapped.

"Quit being smart, boy."  
"Lay off girlie. Why don't you go paint your nails or something?"

The girl stepped forward, a snarl on her face. Before she could attempt to hit me, a high voice rang out, strong and authoritative, that made every girl freeze in her tracks.

"Stop." A young seven-year-old parted the crowd, a boy held loosely in her hands, head held high, eyes that were supposed to be young holding thousands of years of memories. "You are Alex Newman?" she asked, voice soft yet forceful.

"Yeah," I said warily. "What's it to you?"

"Watch your tongue when you speak to milady," the fighting girl from earlier snapped.

"Rosacia, please," the seven-year-old said. Rosacia bowed apologetically. "Do you know who I am, boy?" Once again I asked the voice in my head, and once again I received no reply.

My mother once again left me in my time of need. I should've been expecting it, but at this moment, I hadn't realized how much I had depended on her telling me what to do or what to say whenever I ran into a sticky situation. Now, I was sorry for it. "No," I replied warily. "I honestly can say I have no clue. Obviously someone of authority, albeit odd for a little girl, yet the crowd parts for you, listens to you, and you do not hesitate to hold your head up high."

The corner of the girl's mouth twitched in what could have possibly been the start of a smile, but was slaughtered as quick as it came. "I am goddess of the moon and of the hunt. I control the Hunters with ease, and offer immortality to only the best in efforts to rid the world of the foolish lust mortals foolishly mistake with love."

"Cut to the chase," I said, although an inkling of an idea formed in my mind. I knew who she was know… but the body… she was far too young to actually be… "Lady Artemis," I continued. "Where are my friends?"

The goddess scowled. "Insolent boy. Do you not understand the position you are in? I could have you resemble a jackal in a heartbeat, or a stag. I am rather fond of them. It is quite fun to watch them become mauled by forest creatures."

My heart was racing, and I swallowed once in an attempt to prevent my voice from trembling. "Lovely, really. I don't care whether you turn me into a jackal or a deer or whatever. All I want to know is if my friends are okay and then you could do whatever you want with me. So, are the alright or am I going to die an unhappy ending with a bunch of girls staring at me?"  
"Listen," Artemis growled.

"No," I spat. "I know who you are, and I get it. You're some feminist power that deserves respect, blah blah blah. Right now, though, you are getting in the way of an important quest I'm on, and if that doesn't happen, all your powers are going to be gone as well as the Hunter you seemed to have lost. Oh, and by the way, you seemed to cause all of this, so sorry if I'm a little angry with all of you. I didn't quite feel like getting grabbed by an eagle and dropped from a few stories in the air."

No one said a word, so I decided to pout, crossing my arms and legs and glaring at them all.

After what seemed like an eternity, Lady Artemis nodded once. "Stand up," she commanded. "Your friend is in the tent yonder. Go to him. We will talk in a few moments." I stood up swiftly and was harshly shoved by a few of the girls as they led me to the silver canvas shelter.

With another shove, I tumbled into the tent opening, the flaps being secured behind.

Taylor jumped up from the ground, clearly startled. "Alex!"  
"Taylor!" I am not ashamed to admit we hugged—a very manly one, mind you—laughing and crying the entire time.

"I thought you were a goner for sure," Taylor sighed. "Thyme and I… she stopped the car and just… man, I didn't know chicks could scream like that, but… Dude, I'm so glad you're okay. If the Hunters hadn't shot you down…"

"The Hunters shot the eagle?" I asked.

"Yeah, they did. Said they had been tracking some faint aura of their missing Hunter. The eagle had a shred of their uniform in its mouth, which made the aura."

"So they weren't doing it just to be nice," I said. "That's lovely, really." My eyes widened, and I spun around, trying to open the tent flaps yet finding I could not. "Where's Thyme?" I gasped. "Dude, where's Thyme?"

Taylor pulled me away. "I don't know. A couple of girls whisked her away after they locked me in here." He plopped down on a pillow and sighed. "I already tried yelling for her. They wouldn't listen. Guess we'll just have to wait."

"I don't want to wait. Gods know what they're doing to her!" I punched the tent side angrily, but all I got in return was a pathetic scratch on my knuckle from the canvas.

"Oh yeah," Taylor said dryly. "I'm sure she's getting all kinds of abuse from a bunch of feminist Artemis wannabes."

"Hey!" Rosacia's voice cut through the air. "Shut your mouth or I'll shut it for you."

"No, don't," Taylor shouted back. "My kisses are addicting. Wouldn't want you to be my girl, that's for sure."

I couldn't help it; I giggled. "Good one man," I said.

"It's all I've been doing since you've been out." Taylor cracked a smile. "They're real easy to rile up."

"Oh really?" That led to Taylor and I yelling out insult after insult, and the girls yelling one back, for about fifteen minutes, yelling about their addiction to moonlight, their silver outfits, their bulky physiques (okay, so we lied on that one). It was quite fun, to be honest.

Finally, after Taylor hurled a phrase about night dwellers and their blood sucking capabilities, the canvas flap moved and in burst Lady Artemis. She scowled at us, we smiled back, and she stepped aside, revealing a girl with strawberry blonde hair with a white lily clip.

"Thyme!" I screamed, rushing to her, wrapping her in my arms, burying my face in her sweet smelling hair. "Thanks gods you're alright."

"You… Alex… you were all broken, and it was…" I felt her petite body tremble against mine, and I rubbed her back reassuringly.

"I'm okay now," I said. "Don't worry about me. I'm fine, and I'm always right, so I must be."

She lifted up her head, her beautiful blue eyes red and slightly puffy, her lips twisted up in a relieved smile. "Yeah, I suppose you're right." She hugged me tighter, and I couldn't help but feel a bit rebellious. Here we were, in the midst of an anti-boy clan, with the most amazing girl in all of Olympus in my arms, keeping me close.

How do you like me now, Artemis?

* * *

"So, the hunter that's missing is Thalia Grace?" Thyme was sitting next to me, her voice softly mixing with the chirping of crickets and rushing wind. We were all in a circle around a campfire, Thyme huddling close to me as the air grew colder and the fire burned lower. "When did you realize she was gone?" Thyme's voice was music to my ears.

"Two days ago," Artemis replied. "Usually Thalia is my second-in-command, but she ran off. I cannot say why.

"We had been tracking her ever since, but it's been rather difficult. Since she left I have been forced to withdraw her immortality. She abandoned us, and that cannot be overlooked."

"We may know where she is headed," I said, my eyes flicking to the goddess.

"Then tell me. We must find her."

I nodded. "Yeah, I get that. Honestly, I do. However, you would be encroaching in another god's domain and that wouldn't go over well. That's what we are for."

Artemis's eyes widened ever so slightly, and her mouth twisted into a slight frown. "You mean _his_ world."

"I thought all of you were okay now," Thyme said. "Why would it matter if you head into the Underworld? It would save us a whole lot of trouble."

"While the gods may be… agreeing, more often now, tensions still rise on the matter of entering and usurping another's power." Artemis growled. "Thalia was never one to lose her head this easily. Of all the things to do…"

"Why did she leave?" I asked. "You seem to know now."

"One of our hunters died in battle little over a week ago. She was a close friend of Thalia's. Perhaps… Perhaps Thalia felt cheated. It wouldn't be any surprise. Inga's death was a surprise to us all."  
"What happened?"

"Tracking a large boar. One of the tusks knocked Inga aside into a tree. Broke her neck instantly." Artemis sighed. "She was a relatively new hunter. It was a rookie mistake. Thalia blamed herself."  
"So she's gone to make a deal with Hades then," I said. "Milady, do you know where the entrance is? The one Thalia used? It'd be easier for us to travel through it undetected than any other entrance."

"Tomorrow morning we will run," Artemis said. "But, I must warn you, it is extremely rare for a hero to come back alive, and knowing how bored Hades gets, it will not be an easy death."

"We'll give him some excitement then." I looked at Taylor, then at Thyme. I didn't want to lose either. "We should rest up guys. Tomorrow's going to be a big day." _One we might not live through to see the next._

**Questions? Comments?**


	9. Chapter 9

**Thanks to everyone who has read, favorited, reviewed, and/or followed my story. It means a lot and keeps me motivated. A special thanks to the anonymous reviewer: your review made me feel inspired to keep writing, and I completely agree with your suggestion.**

** Thanks for reading!**

"We're done for," Thyme whined. We were standing at the supposed backdoor entrance to the Underworld. A river was running straight through a pile of enormous rocks that were barricading the cave entrance. "We'll never move those boulders. How did Thalia get in?"

"Our Lord must've found her and blocked off where she came from," I said. "That's not good."

"Nice of Lady A to abandon us," Taylor spat bitterly. He was standing near the boulders, testing them with his hand, seeing if any would give way.

"She has limitations, you know that. Besides, if she came with us we'd have Mr. Underworld breathing down our necks. Careful," I added as Taylor stepped back, nearly crushing an orchid that had been growing a foot from the entrance. I didn't know why, but I had a strange feeling that it was sacred, like it shouldn't be touched, much less crushed by a careless step.

"What're we going to do now?" Thyme sighed in frustration. "We should just go back to camp. There's no way we can do this."

"Oh, that's brilliant Thyme. Thanks for that endearing bit." I narrowed my eyes. "Maybe instead of thinking we're gonna die, how about saying we're going to get through this for once?"

"Dude, chill," Taylor said. "She was only saying."

He put a hand on my shoulder. "Whatever." I shrugged him off and walked a few paces. "Let's get moving. Thalia needs us. Taylor, move the rocks. Don't touch the water. It'll turn into the Styx the moment you do. Thyme, get ready to go. Take out your staff and be armed and ready to go."

I turned my back on her, watching as Taylor easily lifted the boulders like they were child's play. I hated quitters. Absolutely hated them.

* * *

The air in the tunnel was hot and thick, making each breath tedious. My shoes squelched in the mud that dampened from the black river, and I tried my best not to look into its murky depths and see all the despair and crushed dreams that swum inside.

It was pitch black, and only the golden glow from our weapons guided us. We rounded a corner, wary, and only stopped when Taylor nearly stepped off the edge. "Whoa, dude," I said, yanking him back. "That's the end of the road."

"Yeah, but how did Thalia get across?" He was right. If the river swallowed up all usable land, how did she manage to travel any further? "Dude, hold up. See that light? Over there, deep down the river. It's coming towards us."

That light happened to be on a wooden boat, a lantern emitting a sickly yellow glow from the prow as it sailed onwards. The navigator was dressed in a dark cloak of tattered material, and they stopped the boat in front of us. "Payment please," they echoed, their voice gravelly, with many others moaning over each other and drawing out the phrase.

"Payment? Where are we going?" asked Thyme.

"To hell," the man simply replied. "Payment please or no ride. I do not want to wait an eternity."

Thyme dug around in her bag. "Payment, um, okay, I have drachmas? Are those legit or is there an ATM around here?"

The man thrust out his hand in reply, and she dumped four into his skeleton hand. The burst into smoke and vanished. "All aboard."

We all looked at each other, nervous, before Taylor went on first. Thyme boarded next, refusing my outstretched hand for help, and sat farthest away from me when I came on. I rolled my eyes. She was throwing a little hissy fit now, and that was wonderful. Some leader for our quest. It seemed like I was leading this thing more than her anyway.

The boat instantly began moving, pulling away from shore, turning, and leading us onward. We passed over blazing pits of fire, within the flames countless punishments taking place: a shirtless man sweating as he tried to push a gigantic boulder up a steep hill. He could never reach the top. There was a man who was surrounded my food, some being statues made out of gold, some not. The man looked incredibly skinny, angrily glancing at the victuals around him. There was even a man who was sitting in an opera theatre, the singer having the time of their endless lives bellowing on stage, the man listening in clutching at his ears.

A shiver ran through my spine. That was not a place I would like to end up in.

We stopped at a riverbank, three lines like terminals leading farther up. Skeletons waited in line, flickering images of their bodies appearing every few seconds over the bones. "This is the last stop," the man said. "Enjoy Hell."

We clambered from the boat and stood, uneasily glancing at the terminals. There were black archways over each, labeled differently, yet the common line in both declared: YOU ARE NOW ENTERING EREBUS, as though we were on the freeway heading into a different city.

An ear-piercing howl cut through the air and startled me. "What was that?" I asked, both to my comrades and to the voice inside my head, but my mother didn't respond.

"Cerberus," replied Thyme, scooting a little closer to Taylor and I. "Annabeth said he was guarding the entrances when she came here. Didn't she tell you?" The last bit was clearly meant to miff me, yet I didn't take the bait.

"Didn't have much time after you asked me to tag along," I replied dryly. "If that dog's supposed to be here, where is it?"

"Guys…" Taylor sounded frightened, his voice unnaturally high. "I found him." I followed his eyes to the air. At first, I didn't see anything, until I concentrated really hard. Then I nearly screamed.

The three headed dog was almost translucent, blending with the darkness of the stalagmite ceiling and the color scheme of the Underworld. It was easier to point out its three sets of beady eyes and pointed teeth than the rest of the body.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of lightning break through the darkness. Turning my head, I saw a faraway fortress looming from the darkness, just a shade darker than everything else. The lightning flashed within it, probably inside a courtyard.

"Thalia," I whispered. "That has to be her. She's a daughter of Ze—" Thyme shushed me before I could finish. "Oh, right, thanks. So how to we get to her?"

"You're the Wise One. You're supposed to have the answers."

"Well sorry if I'm faltering. I've picked up enough of my leader's slack."

"Guys!" Taylor interrupted. "Stop fighting. We've got bigger problems to worry about. How are we going to get in a) without getting stopped by those cloaked attendants and b) without getting killed by Fido?"

"I got it." Thyme dug around in her pack quickly, eliciting a growl from Cerberus. She took out a red rubber handball, holding it up. All three heads turned to stare. "Luckily I talked to Annabeth before we left. She said to bring a ball, and if we got this far, it'll distract Cerberus. All he wants is someone to play with."

She hurled the ball and Cerberus quickly caught it. The middle head dropped it on the ground, covering in drool, waiting for Thyme to pick it up and throw it again.

"You guys go. I'll take care of him."

"We aren't leaving you here," I said. "That's rule one in survival: never split up."

"Well how else are you going to get to an attendant before Cerberus decides you'd make an awesome meaty treat? Just go. You'll be coming back. I'm not worried. Go and get Thalia."  
"Alright," Taylor agreed. "Come on man."

"What? No!" I grabbed Thyme's arm. Cerberus growled. "You're coming. I can't leave you here."

"You can and will."  
"Thyme, I'm not—"

"I'm the leader of this mission and what I say goes," she spat. "Now get going before I decide Cerberus would like you to chew on besides this toy."  
"Thyme…" My heart clenched for some reason. "You're being ridiculous. What can I do to change your mind?"

"Nothing." Thyme waved her hand dismissively. "Now go. You'll come back for me."

For some reason, I wasn't too sure.

I should've trusted my instincts.

* * *

Hades' fortress was a black pit of despair. Getting to it had been a nightmare. We had to pose as recently deceased in the EZ DEATH line and had to walk through the depressing Fields of Asphodel until we reached the gates. Taylor and I had stolen two cloaks off of the ghouls working the other terminals, and had been wearing them when the three Furies had stopped us.

Now that had been quite a moment. The leather wings of the hags smelled absolutely terrible, and they clouted their smell into our faces. "Spirits have no business at our Lord's manor," cackled one, beady eyes staring us up and down. We kept the cowl of our cloaks hanging over our heads, their shadows hiding our faces and living-ness.

"We have an appointment," I guessed. "We're recently departed employees of PETA. Haven't you heard that dog of his? It's been howling like its in pain. Many spirits have complained with local authorities and it is up to us to discuss with Lord Hades what is to be done on this matter. Now, would you like to face his wrath when you explain why you kept us late?"  
It was a bold move, and my knees were shaking so hard they knocked together at a few times. The Fury eyed me, then Taylor, flapping around us before hissing. "Very well. Proceed, but stay no longer than you must." With a shriek that I would never forget, the three took flight and resumed circling above the castle, avoiding bits of lightning that spiked through the air regularly.

"Dude," Taylor whispered. "That was awesome."

"Thanks. Now come on; let's go." I creaked open the wrought iron gate, stepping towards the castle.

"Great. You know, there's no one I'd rather be walking to my doom with, but come on, this sucks. Why'd we have to—" But he stopped speaking the moment an unmistakable howl trembled through the screams of the tortured and moans of the dead, reaching my ears, conjuring up the picture of a red rubber handball in my head.

My heart stopped. "Thyme."

**Anyone catch the reference? ;)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Thank you all for your lovely reviews. They make my day, and I apologize for not being able to respond to all of them. I hope you enjoy!**

"We've got to go back," I said, stepping away from the gate. Taylor grabbed my arm and pulled me back, my own strength unmatched to his own. "Taylor, let go. We have to go get her."

"If she's dead, she died for a reason. Don't go back there and get yourself killed." Taylor's warm brown eyes were sad, but determined. "Let's keep going. Mourn later."

That had been a common phrase we said to each other when we had been traveling the country alone, still searching for safety. If we had scraped a knee after a fall, or had a grumbling stomach, we would tell each other to suck it up, keep focused, and most importantly, keep going.

I wasn't so sure, but Taylor kept a firm grip on my arm and dragged me through the front entrance of the castle. We passed by a rich garden, the sweet aromas distracting me for a moment, a few plump fruit dangling off tree branches, just waiting to be bitten.

Something told me that if I bit into it, I would never leave this place.

I stared at the creepy skulls that decorated the interior of the halls—some human, some not. The hollow eye sockets and grinning mouths made me feel empty inside, as if they were expecting my soul to depart at any moment and my own head to join their own in a grim choir.

We paused in front of two large stone doors, black as night, writhing scenes of Punishment inscribed on the surface. Taylor released my arm now, only to take out his knife. It glowed brightly in the gloom. "Ready dude?" he asked. His face was pale, his hand slightly shaking. It alarmed me that Taylor—son of the famed Heracles—was afraid.

"Not even death will part us," I promised, nodding, holding out my own weapon, tracing the Louisville Slugger logo with my finger. "See you soon Dad," I whispered, just under my breath. I pressed my lips to the bat, feeling my heart clench.

We threw open the doors, and a cry left my lips.

Thyme was kneeling on the floor, her hair mussed, one eye red and puffy. Soon it would darken into a bruise. Only a few feet away was Thalia. It had to have been, because she had black spiky hair, crisp stormy eyes, and the trademark dress of the Hunters. And, of course—how could I not mention this earlier?—she had a bow in her hand, an arrow aimed directly at Thyme's heart.

"Ah, there you are." Only now did I notice the man on the throne. His black hair was ragged, and his eyes flashed with amusement as the doors slammed shut behind us. Skeleton soldiers dressed in Civil War uniforms barricaded the way. "Welcome brave heroes of Olympus. Welcome indeed."

Hades stood up from his throne, glancing over at Thyme and Thalia with little interest now that we had arrived. "So," he continued, circling around us. "You are the best they could scrounge up huh? How stupid are you to undertake a mission that would lead you to Hell's very depths?"

"Bravery may be thought of as blind," I replied, "yet rewarding to those who live to remember it."

"You must be Athena's boy." It wasn't a question, just assuring himself.

"Yes sir."

"You must wonder why your mother isn't talking to you now. You found you can't rely on your head huh?" Hades stopped in front of me, his face close to mine as he grinned wickedly. "Mother's abandoning you again."

"She cares about me," I said, gritting my teeth, staring straight ahead to keep my cool.

"Like she cared about your father?" With a snap of his fingers, a burst of golden light illuminated the space. When it cleared and my eyes had adjusted, I couldn't breathe.

"Dad." He was just as a pictured him, his hair still tousled messily, his eyes still warm and encouraging. My father glanced at his hands, not too sure if they were solid or not. Once he had reassured himself they were, he glanced up at me, smiling.

"Hey sport."

Tears erupted from my eyes. I tried to run to him, but Hades held out a hand. "Ah, ah, ah," he cooed. "No can do." He turned back to Thyme and Thalia. "Thalia, my dear girl. You have your chance. Will you take it?"

"What's he talking about?" Taylor cried. "Thalia, what's going on?"

"He says I'll get Inga back," she muttered. "A life for a life."

My heart dropped. Hades seemed to notice, because he pounced on the opportunity to make me squirm. "So, Alex," he said, gesturing to my father with one hand, to Thyme with the other. "Who will you choose? Your beloved father, or the girl of your dreams?"

I shouldn't have taken the bait. It was stupid of me to answer to it. "This is sick." My voice trembled. "Why do I have to choose?"

"I'm the god of the dead; its gets woefully lonely down here." Hades sighed, acting as though he were pained. "At least that monstrous mother-in-law of mine is gone, up to the mortal world with her daughter."

Thyme whimpered, and we locked eyes. I shouldn't have done that either. She made my knees weak. Next I flickered to my father. He stood stiff as a board, his hands clasped in front of him, showing no emotion but dislike for the god in front of him. "He's only a boy, my lord," Dad said. "Do not make him choose."

"He's nearly sixteen," Hades retorted, "and he was made with Ms. Brilliant. He's wise enough."

"May I plead my case then?"

This seemed to please the god. Yippee, I get to be tormented even further. "As you wish."

My father cleared his throat as he approached me, resting a hand on my shoulder. His touch was familiar, friendly, his scent relaxing. I felt like a child again, and that was a miraculously good feeling. "Well son, it's been quite a while."

"Daddy…" was all I managed.

"Cheer up sport. You still won that game six to five. You scored the winning run, remember?"

That had been a long time ago. "Yeah, I remember."

"Look at you. You've grown so big." He grinned, ruffling my hair with a hand. "I'm so proud of you. Your mom and I know what's been happening. We know what you've been doing, what you've gone through. The heroes of Greece have nothing on you."

And just like that, my dad had made up for years of being away.

"Dad, I love you," I blubbered.

"I love you too. So does Mom. We love you so much. Now, Alex, I'm dead. I've been dead for a while. The whole world has changed, and I'm in Paradise here. Your mother and I both are, since we fought for you." Dad waved at Thyme, who was sporting a bloody lip as well, her eyes welling up with tears as she shook with fear. "That right there looks like a pretty lovely lady. You're such a geek I don't know how you could've scored that."

"She's not mine," I admitted. "It never happened, unfortunately."

"Chin up sport. You never know. Moral of the story son, is that I love you, and I'll miss you, but we'll meet again someday, sometime in the future. Don't worry about me."

"That's not arguing your case," Hades roared.

"I didn't say what side I was on, did I?"

"Choose, Alex Newman," the god bellowed. "Choose or you condemn all of your friends to a painful death."

"Thyme," I said, my heart breaking as I said it. "I choose Thyme." And just like that, my dad disappeared, my shoulder still warm where his hand had rested upon it.

"And Thalia, do you?"

Thalia was still aiming her arrow at Thyme, her arms shaking now. I wasn't sure if she was going to be able to take the shot if she needed to.

"Don't do it Thalia," Taylor said. "Artemis needs you back. The other girls need you. Don't be reckless."

"But she was my friend."

"And you'll see her again, but not now. Don't kill a girl just to resurrect another. It won't work out. You'll hate yourself forever."

That moment Thyme burst from the floor, taking off running. Thalia didn't shoot her down. She bundled into my arms, grabbing me for but a moment before she realized she should be angry at me and swapping for Taylor's grasp. Thalia numbly walked over to eyes, eyes vacant. "Let's go," she whispered.

"Oh, but not yet," Hades said. "Three of you heroes came here. Now there's four. Only three go out." My mouth dropped. "Don't give me that face; I'm quite serious. I need some sort of payment for you lot wasting my time. A soul will do. Who's will it be?"

Thyme stepped forward. "I will."

"No," Taylor said. "I will. Thyme, you're the leader. It's your job to get Thalia out of here."

"You're both wrong," I said. "I am. Taylor, they need your skills to get out of here. Hades isn't going to let you go without a fight. He's a coward like that—he'll get people to fight you instead of himself." I whirled my bat. "I'll go for him."

"There is no way I'm leaving you behind dude," my friend said.

I pulled him into a hug. "I've got a plan. Wish me luck," I whispered in his ear. If this didn't work out, he would've lost me, and I him. It would have been like losing a brother, or a twin… Pollux… "All of you, go."

"Dude!"

"Go Taylor." I stared at Thyme. "So, Herb, this is goodbye." I smiled. "Nice to know you. Remember that I think I'm sorta maybe kinda loving you. Perhaps." I winked. "Now, Thalia, this was an incredibly stupid thing of you to do. You do not have Artemis' gifts now. Be careful." I turned my back on them all. "So Hades, it's just you and me then." Behind me I heard the doors slam shut. Never before had I witnessed a more ominous sound. I was trapped in the Underworld, alone, with Hades and a bunch of his minions around me.

"Ready to die little warrior?" he smirked.

"Indeed. However, I have a proposition for you."

The god of death looked intrigued, pacing around me, ghoulish cape flapping, petting his goatee with a hand as he thought. "Now why would I accept such a deal?"

"You said it yourself. You're bored. Think of it as a nice game of risk, only the odds are substantially in your favor."

"Go on."

I swallowed, trying to erase every bit of nerves that flooded my voice. My fists were clenched so hard, blood dribbled where my nails bit into my skin. _I can do this, _I thought. _Keep calm_. "It is one that you have known before yet has never been successful."

"Oh? By who?"

"Orpheus."

Hades' frowned.

"Orpheus tried to save his beloved by leading her back to the mortal world. I propose that if I do the same, and if I make it out with them, we both stay alive."

"And if you fail?"

"Then we both die and stay dead, and you can do whatever you want with my soul, fair trial or not." I knew this was my best shot at getting out of here alive.

"It is certainly a risk," Hades mused. "This may all be some elaborate ruse to humiliate me in front of my brothers."

"Never, my Lord," I said. "One as respectable as death should not be humiliated."

"Hm. Let's say I agreed to this. Who would you wager? Your father, or your mother?"'

"Neither," I replied. His eyes widened a bit, so small one wouldn't notice if not looking for it. "I wager Castor, son of Dionysus."

**Questions? Comments?**


	11. Chapter 11

**Thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, followed, etc. my story. And to GoddessofSweetness—no, I didn't write the Alexis Newman story. I have never even heard of it haha. Simply a happy coincidence.**

**Enjoy!**

"You pose quite a challenge young hero," Hades said. I was standing only feet away, and still his angry glare sent shivers down my spine.

My palms were sweating. What if he didn't agree? He could simply refuse, and I would be dead in the matter of a second. I was betting on what I knew about him: he was a bitter god still wanting approval and respect amongst the other Olympians. He was dreadfully lonely most days out of the year, with nothing but souls in torment to lull him to sleep.

This would be the most exciting thing to happen to him in centuries.

"It would be on your terms," I said. "Of course, you should have the upper hand in this."

Hades smiled, a chilling sight. "I wouldn't have it any other way. Very good." Hades paced the room, pausing at his throne, caressing one of the human skulls it was built out of with surprising care. He looked lost in his thoughts for a moment until he cleared his throat, cocky demeanor shining through all the black. "I believe we are missing a third member to this party." He snapped his fingers and, as previous, a shower of gold sparks illuminated the room. When they cleared, a boy stood with us, cheeks rosy and plump, golden curls decorating his face. Without any doubt I knew it was Castor. Only a brother could look so identical.

"Castor," I said, my voice small. The boy seemed shocked and gazed at his hands like my father had done. Was it really that much of a difference to the soul? "I've come to take you back to your brother."  
"Is he dead?" Castor asked.

"No, you are just alive. Hades and I have made a bargain, the one Orpheus had made long ago. Are you familiar?"

The boy nodded. "Very."

Hades clapped his hands together. "No need to doddle. Go on, young hero. Let us see if you have what it takes to best Death. It has never been possible."

"Hold on. Swear on the Styx you'll hold your word," I said. "Swear it, and that means if I succeed I gain all my rewards. That means we stay alive and Castor does not become haunted by death."

The god scowled. He had forgotten I was a clever boy. He hadn't known that's what I had prided myself on most.

"I swear it on the River Styx," he commanded. I repeated the oath, and with a wave of his hand a black portal opened in the chamber. "Enter, foolish mortal. Let us see who the victor is."

"It shall be me." And I walked off, Castor trailing behind.

I had gravely underestimated my opponent.

The portal had sealed behind us the moment we stepped through leaving us on an incredibly long flight of stairs. There was no end in sight.

"So do we start now?" Castor asked. I almost turned around to answer him when I clamped a hand over my eyes. "I'll take that as a yes."

"Sorry," I said. "I'm just not going to take any risks." My heart began pounding now. That had almost been a slip up. What a foolish way to go.

I shook my head to concentrate, beginning to walk up the steps. However, when I stepped up the first stair, I noticed it had shiny fragments inside it. I found that odd, yet I pressed on. Castor blabbered behind me, talking about nonsense, and I did my best not to listen and to keep facing forward. It took all of my concentration away, yet wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

Soon the shiny fragments became larger and large, each piece reflecting my image on it. I understood, then, what was going on. The entire flight was one big mirror, designed to have me catch sight of the boy behind me and blow this whole mission.

"Is Pollux okay?" Castor asked suddenly. I squeezed my eyes shut as I answered, stumbling on the steps, resorting to crawling up them. My legs already felt like Jell-O, and my eyelids were struggling to keep shut as some divine force tried to yank them up.

"He's fine," I said, a little harsh. "Sorry; this is getting hard. Uh, yeah, Pollux and I are friends. He seemed really bummed when I was leaving. Didn't want to lose me too." I bit back a curse as I jammed my fingers on a piece of mirror. "He left your bed exactly the way it was."  
"Trash and everything?"  
"Trash and everything."  
We walked in silence a little more, our ragged breathing cutting the quiet in intervals. There were so many stairs, and Hades couldn't possibly be watching us now. It was just too boring. Perhaps if I peeked, just a little, it wouldn't be bad. It would make me feel better, knowing that he was there and I wasn't in this alone—

"Quit turning your head," Castor snapped. "Fight whatever mumbo jumbo Hades is trying to spell. I want to see my brother. I don't want to miss that chance just because you decided to let your guard down."

"Right," I said, my head snapping away, cheeks flushing. I hadn't realized I was turning towards him. "I'm sorry. I'm so tired… I just came from Artemis' camp, and I didn't sleep much, and I'm so hungry…" I shook my head. "I'm droning. Sorry. I just can't seem to focus anymore."

"Well you won't have to. There's only a few steps before there's an archway. Dude, we might get out of this!" His lilting laugh was sweet to my ears. "I might live!"

After twenty more steps, I felt the rough texture of grass stabbing into my palm. My eyes remained closed, however, until I had scooted far into the grass, making sure Castor was by me as well.

I heard him crying behind me, thick, deep sobs the racked his lungs. "Are you sure we're out?" I said, pressing my hands to my eyes and they struggled to fly open.

"Y-Yeah. There's grass, and trees, and the sky's black."

"Black?" I opened my eyes, just for a second, to see if he was right.

And he was. The air was cold but not uncomfortably so, the grass dense and as green as the forest tree canopies. The sky was indeed black, yet I noticed there were no stars, although the night was clear of clouds. And there wasn't a moon, yet if I was correct—which I always was—there should be one today. The lunar cycle didn't have a dark moon scheduled for this very night.

And it shouldn't be night either. Taylor, Thyme and I had entered the tunnel in the morning. We hadn't been here for twelve plus hours. It wasn't possible…

I shut my eyes just as Castor screamed. "Close your eyes!" he shrieked. "Close your eyes!"

"I didn't look, I didn't look!" I replied. "What happened? Dude what happened?"

"Everything just turned… its all in mirrors." Castor yelled in rage, stomping the mirror covered stone and cracking the pane. "He's playing tricks!"

"Death will not let us off easy," I said. "The only place we will truly be safe is camp. We'll have to run like the wind if we want to get out of here alive." I stood up shakily, blindly groping the air for Castor. "Take my hand. You'll have to lead me out of here. I can't see a thing."

It took another long flight of stairs, this time Castor's touch intoxicating. Every cell of my body wanted to gravitate towards him, his smell persuading my other senses to open up and see him, to watch his golden hair and innocent smile light up—

"Stop turning your head!" Castor slapped my face, hard across one cheek. "You're acting like a girl. Quit it—I don't flow like that."  
"Hey, I don't either!" I hissed. "It's not my fault I've got Hades trying every trick in the book on me. You don't have to lose anything. You're already dead, while I could die and lose everything."

"You think I don't know that?" The animosity in his voice startled me. "I should just leave you here if you're talking like that. I've already lost everything. Having the opportunity to get it back is unbelievable. You need to shut up and keep walking." I was about to retort when I was shoved lightly. "Don't talk back. It's rude." I bit my tongue yet kept my anger to myself.

After a few long minutes of climbing, sweat pouring freely down my face, I heard a slight chirping. "Hey, is that—?"

"Birds," Castor agreed. "I hear birds. I don't see anything though. There's just… black."

The moment we stepped through this "black" I felt heat bite at my skin, and I stumbled over nothing, landing softly in a pile of cool grass. "The sky's blue," Castor said, the tremble back in his voice. "Alex, the sky's blue, and the sun's out." I heard him fall. "I can see the sun."

The tugging sensation had left my eyelids, and cautiously—oh so cautiously—I opened them.

Tears blurred my vision as I began to cry. We were in the mortal world. We had to have been. I could hear the faint zooming of cars just a little ways away, and buildings… I could see them rising above the trees, just barely.

"What city are we in?" I asked Castor. I did not get a response, for the boy was clutching the grass and weeping, praising the gods in incoherent sentences as he cried. I crawled over, unsure of what to do. I rubbed his back with one hand. "Uh… Hey, Castor, it's okay. You're alive now…" I didn't know how to follow that up so I just said, "Yay..." When he continued to cry, clutching my arms and muttering 'thank-you' over and over again, I decided to use a little tough love. "Come on Castor, we've gotta move. Hades is pissed now. We've got to find out where we are and how to get back to camp before he sends something after—" A roar cut me off. The trees shook with the force of the howl, and it sounded vaguely familiar. Only, this time, it didn't sound in pain. It sounded furious. "We gotta go," I said, yanking the boy to his feet, both of us taking off.

"By gods," Castor cursed. "What is that thing? It sounds awful."

"Ceberus, and by the sound of it, he's more loyal to his master than I thought."

**May not be the most exciting chapter, but there isn't much to say about a person walking up stairs haha. Hope you all enjoyed, and I hope you'll find the time to review. Thanks everyone!**


	12. Chapter 12

I was one hundred percent positive we were going to die. Well, okay, maybe not a hundred percent, but at least ninety percent.

Castor had decided to try his hand at cooking a wood pigeon we had shot down, and after setting up camp near a cluster of rocks, we had set to work lighting a fire. Luckily I was well versed in this area, so we had the bird roasting over toasty flames in a few minutes.

We had escaped Cerberus momentarily. He had been unable to get a good whiff of us when we exited the Underworld so we had been able to take off running without him catching onto us. The fact that he was also an extra large spirit dog trying to get through an extra small human/doggie door also helped.

Castor and I had been able to hop onto the back of a gardening truck and squeeze in between a load of trash cans, hiding from the men inside, their rapid Spanish filtering through one of the open windows. They were talking about one man's daughter's recent quinceanera, and I tuned them out. The only important thing was that they were headed to the next two towns over, and that was at least two towns closer to Manhattan.

When the gardeners stopped, we ran away from them in a midst of curses and rapid fire Spanish words, to which Castor decided to reply with a choice finger. "I'm alive again; quit yelling at me!" he yelled out to them, scurrying away when a beefy one made a step towards him.

We had walked until just before darkness, sticking into rural areas such as this forest we came across. We knew we had to keep moving, that we couldn't stop now, so we decided to take a little break, eat the bird, and move along.

That turned out to be harder than we initially thought. The fire had made us so warm… and my body was aching from the quest… if I could just fall asleep, only for a minute, I'd be ready to face anything…

I woke up at dawn, drenched in cold sweat, bat held firmly in my hand. It had grown uncomfortably warm, and I realized the fire had died. Castor lay just on the other side, curled up, sound asleep. "Dude!" I hissed, poking him with my bat. He grumbled and rolled over, and I poked him again, a little harder. "Dude! We slept in! We need to move!"

That woke him right up. We both nervously glanced around, ready to run, until we realized one very important thing: we didn't know where to go. "Walking isn't that bad," I said. "We could do it."

"Yeah, and how long did that take you again? Five years?"

I didn't bother to tell him it was more. I simply snarled. "Yeah, yeah. Why don't you start thinking of ideas instead of snapping? Alright, we should try to find a drachma so we can contact camp. Maybe Thyme or someone could help us. After all, they are apart of our quest."  
"That'd be easier said than done."

"Well then, we might as well hitch a ride. Get as far away as possibly before we make contact with Greeks. The dog might be upon us."

Castor nodded, and that settled the matter.

We managed to hold onto the back of a plumber's truck as it traversed down the highway, Castor able to pick the lock, open one of the doors, and slip us inside.

It would have been nice if not for the fact that it was like an oven in back there.

The van continued to drive for a few hours before it pulled out to an exit to get gas. Castor and I fled from the back then, careful not to alert the driver, and began inspecting our new surroundings. We had found ourselves near a large shopping complex.

"Could have some Greek stuff in there," I said as we stood in front of the mall's large entrance.

"Yeah, and we could grab some cash too."

"We aren't going to rob someone Castor."  
"I didn't mean that. Just pull out the change from a payphone or something. I've done it before." Castor walked through the door. "Come on. We can be in and out quick, and that dog won't even recognize our scent in here. There's too many smells."

I nodded, a tad uneasy, glancing once over my shoulder before walking inside.

It was then, surrounded by hordes of teenage girls and clean cut boys, that I realized Castor and I looked like mountain men. Our jeans were dirty and ripped, our hair disheveled and—in Castor's case—littered with a leaf or two. We must've smelled pretty awesome too, because everyone walked around us with a three feet radius.

"Dude," I hissed. "Go find a payphone and get the cash. I'll go find a directory. We need to get out of here asap."  
"Alright," the boy said. "Be right back. Don't go too far."

Castor hurriedly walked off, and I found one of the mall directories and began scanning the store names.

A man walked up beside me, and I scooted over so I didn't hog the board, glancing at him for the briefest of moments.

My heart stopped. The man was smiling at me, a rank odor worse than my own wafting from his decomposed body. His head was a bare skull, teeth grinning at me coldly, and I took a step back. "C-Castor," I tried to yell, but it came out as a whisper.

"Congratulations," the skeleton said, one of its bony hands fiddling with a sleeve end. Looking at the outfit, now, I realized I should have recognized him. There was a rocker leather jacket over a bloody shirt, and ripped jeans trailing down to leather boots. This could only be Hades, using one of his minions to pass along his message. "You managed to escape my domain alive… for now." I craned my neck, looking over the heads of the oblivious crowd to see if I could spot Castor. "However, if you don't make it back to camp, then no one will know of your triumph, and I will have been undefeated." The skeleton seemed to smirk.

"I don't plan on going back to your place for a very long time," I said.

"Better think twice about that brainchild," he spat. "I already have a nice little hell set up for you, near King Minos. I'm sure you'll love his company."

"That is unfair prosecution," I hissed. "You can't do that."

"I'm a god, foolish mortal. I can do whatever I please. Sure, my brothers may put up a fuss, but in the end, they'll forget about you soon enough." The skeleton placed a hand on my shoulder, a shiver stabbing up my spine as the bones scraped together. "The spiders have been begging for you."

_Run_, a voice in my head whispered calmly. _Run Alex. Get away from him_.

I staggered back and pushed through the crowd, ignoring their angry cries, trying to find Castor. I was yelling for him, above the roaring noise of the mall. Everywhere I saw flashes of bright blonde hair, but none of them were his.

"Castor!" I screamed.

"Alex!"

I stopped. "Castor?"

"Alex, I see you, don't move!" Then suddenly the boy was beside me, pockets clanging with coins. He took hold of my arm and pulled me into motion. "Dude, we've got a problem. Fido's back."

"I know. I just talked to Hades."

"You what?"

"No time to explain." I pointed to a pet store, eyeing the emergency exit barely visible through the aisles. "Come on, we need to go."

Behind us, an ear piercing howl reverberated off the walls. Nothing had made me run faster in my life.

Just as we entered the pet store, the glass shattered, mortals screaming in terror. Seems like Cerberus was only a step behind. "Where can we hide?" Castor shrieked.

My eyes scanned the store for a second before landing on a huge aquarium in the middle of the store. "There! The fish tank! The water will hide our scent!"

I should have known Cerberus would sniff us out. As we leapt for the tank and lifted the top a crack, submerging in the icy water, I wanted to kick myself. Dogs compartmentalize everything they smell in a single sniff in under a second. If that was a normal dog, godly ones should be incredibly sensitive.

We could barely see Cerberus through the water. He was very transparent, somehow managing to still terrorize the mortals. They were knocking down aisles in their feeble attempts to flee, most racing out of the emergency exits, the sirens wailing.

We tried our best not to breathe. When we were at the limit, we would gently bob our lips to the surface, hidden by the top of the tank. Cerberus was momentarily stunned by the disappearance of our scent, and kept sniffing the store, trying to pick it back up. I used this precious time to think. _Gods help us_, I thought. _Well, not Hades. We don't like you right now. But all the others, that'd be cool. Think Alex, think! Don't give up, never give up._

My eyes scanned the store, inspecting the fallen aisles to find something useful.

_There is never no point in fighting. Not when I have a reason. Think Alex, think!_

Castor seemed to be scrambling, his breathing get rapid as he kept bobbing to the surface. If he kept that up Cerberus would hear and kill us in no time.

_Think Alex! _I told myself, angry at my lack of decision. _You have to get Castor back to Pollux, you have to get back to Taylor and Thyme._

Thyme. That was it! I laid eyes on a large red ball, sitting in a pile of dog toys nearby, and I stood up in the tank, slowly edging out. My bat appeared in my hand, and as I slipped out of the tank, ignoring the fish that scattered in and out of my legs, I was careful not to let the bronze clank against the glass.

Castor stared at me like I was committing my suicide in front of him. Maybe I was.

One of Cerberus' heads turned slightly, then the others followed when the first barked in alarm. I dove for the rubber ball, grabbing it in my hands, holding it up for the dog to see.

It stopped in its tracks. "Good boy," I said, my heart pounding in my chest. "Good boy. You want the ball? You want the ball?" When the beast wagged its tail, it thwacked against the ground and nearly sent me tumbling. Even water splashed from the tank, where Castor was still hiding. I threw it once, as hard as I could, but Cerberus caught it with ease and returned it to me, nosing it towards my legs, waiting and drooling in playful anticipation. I spun my bat in my hand and stooped to retrieve the ball. "Okay boy. Get ready Castor," I added. "The second I hit this we're running out that far door." I waved the ball in the air, noting each pair of eyes following it, and said, "Ready boy? Ready? Here we go!" I dropped it and swung my bat, hitting the ball precisely through the middle and far left head. It sailed out of the store, and Cerberus clumsily turned to chase after it.

I ran for the exit, shoving open the door, Castor only a breath behind. "There!" I shouted, pointing to a car trailer that was pulling out of a car dealership. "Dude, grab on, and let's book it before the dog comes back!" We sprinted as fast as we could. Castor and I both grabbed onto the back car, just as the trailer was pulling out. We scrambled into the bed of a truck, panting, waiting with held breaths until we arrived on the freeway, heading towards New York.

"This won't keep us safe for long," Castor panted. "The air will carry our scent."

"We need to get into one of these cars," I agreed.

"I'm on it." Castor peered out of the truck bed, and when the coast was clear, he scrambled up to the top level. After a few minutes, he leaned down and called out to me to come up. I scrambled up the scaffolding and found him perched in the driver's seat of a silver Ford Flex, 2012 edition. He waved and gave me a thumbs up, opening the door, letting me climb over him and plop into the passenger seat.

"This is so awesome," I grinned.

"Just wait," Castor said. He snapped his fingers, and from the air vents came a small green vine, thickening every moment, until ripe red grapes and bushy leaves hung off of it. I plucked one off the vine, chewed its perfect plump body, and smiled.

"Aw yeah."

**Thanks for reading! Care to review?**


	13. Chapter 13

We had been driving for hours. According to the sticker plastered on the windshield of the Flex, this specific car was headed to New York, New York, which rather surprised me. Well, I supposed it didn't—I didn't know what town we were located in.

Castor and I slept in shifts. He dozed off first, and when he woke up on his own—somewhere between nine to ten hours later—it was my turn to lounge across the back seat and shut my eyes, although I didn't sleep for near that long.

We had nothing to do but talk or stare out the window. Naturally, we resorted to talking, but even then we had exhausted any and all topics, ranging from the deep _How are you handling the transition back to the mortal world?_ to _What's your favorite color?_ Of course, there was one question we both didn't dare ask, nor answer: _Who are you missing the most right now?_

Castor would've had an easy answer. He had his brother to look forward too. He knew exactly who he wanted to see at that very moment, who he needed to wrap his arms around and whisper everything is alright. Me? I honestly didn't know.

I wanted my dad. I wanted Thyme. I wanted Taylor. Each equally pulled at my heart, driving it into different directions. I craved my father's touch again, just the hand on my shoulder, because I knew that was all I could get while we were separated by life and death. _Hey sport._ And I had called him "Daddy." I haven't said that word in years. It hurt to say, to be honest.

Then there was Thyme. Her strawberry blonde hair, her gorgeous blue eyes, that laugh of hers, her slightly pessimistic attitude that intrigued and amused me. She probably thought I was a first-class idiot, or at the least the biggest jerk to have ever existed. She probably doesn't even care that I sacrificed myself for them—appreciative yes, but mournful no.

Finally, the last but not least, infamous Taylor. My best buddy. My confidant and right hand man. What I wouldn't give to be on the run with him again, just one more time, talking and goofing off together as we fled towards some unknown hope of salvation. What I would do for just one more day with him.

With all of them.

Castor's hand smacked my shoulder. "Alex, you okay? What's wrong?" I didn't understand what he meant until I felt a tear drip from my chin. I quickly wiped it away.

"Just thinking," I said. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it." I sighed and wiped my face again. "What city are we in?"

"Almost in the state of New York," Castor replied. "We should be home in no time."

"There's bound to be some sort of problem now."

My throat felt sore, and I desperately wanted water, although we had none.

"Not to worry. I found a drachma in the payphone," Castor said, digging out the gold coin from his pocket. "Maybe if we find some water we can send a message to everyone, to get help. We aren't technically on a quest now, are we?"

"No, I suppose not. But we still shouldn't send a message. That'll just pinpoint our location to Mr. Personality, and we wouldn't want that. Who knows how close that dog of his is now."

Castor nodded glumly and returned the drachma to his pocket. "So what's the game plan? What're we going to do when we reach New York?"

"I don't know. We walk to Manhattan. We can hop on a bus or something, but we don't have much money. We have what was in the payphone, and that'll get us a couple of rides through town, but it probably isn't enough. We need water too, so we could stop at a bus station and get a bit. We can't be dehydrated once we face that beast again. We'll die for sure."

It was another few hours before we arrived in New York City. We had abandoned ship before we arrived at the dealership, instead dropping off near a bus stop to check the routes. We found one that would take us into Manhattan, but the only downside was that we had to wait an hour before the bus pulled up. That scared the crap out of me. I didn't want to wait very long before moving. Sure, our scent would be masked once we were on the bus and moving, but that was the thing. We'd be moving towards Manhattan, and all Hades had to do was look for a bus headed that direction with the same logo as the bus stop advertised.

Wonderful.

I didn't calm down until we were on the bus, almost in Manhattan. Castor was wide awake, sitting right beside me as the city bus zipped down the road, traversing through the crowded streets and avoiding pedestrians by a hair's breath. We exited near the Empire State Building, and from there we began to lightly jog towards the camp, navigating through the city roads until we arrived at an area of backcountry. I could almost imagine the white van we carry strawberries into town with coming up the road, dirt billowing out the back, Argus in the front seat.

Of course, that didn't happen.

So we continued to walk down the road, looking for the telltale Big House rising above a hill of strawberries. If I concentrated enough, I could almost smell them. They were so crisp, and sweet, and I could imagine Thyme walking amongst the rows, the plants growing wildly around her, intoxicated by her presence.

I knew the feeling.

"Hey Alex," Castor said, breaking me from my thoughts. "Isn't that it? Way down the road, a little to the right? You can see a corner of the fields."

My heart swelled up into my throat, my eyes stinging now. "Dude, that's it. We made it. We're alive and we—"

_Run._

I stopped midsentence. Run? The voice in my head—my mom—was talking to me again? Run? That's all she has to say?

_Run Alex, run!_

"Run," I whispered, and Castor and I took off sprinting as fast as we could. I glanced over my shoulder, just to see if we really were in danger, and saw Fido himself running at us, the ball clamped in between the middle head's jaws, a familiar rocker skeleton holding onto its collar as they charged. "Di immortales!" I screamed, among a few other choice words.

"There's no point in fighting, little demigods," cackled Hades, his voice projected through the skeleton's jaws. "Come to me willingly, and I may not kill you quite as slowly."

"Never!" I screamed, and I couldn't help but feel pretty bad ass saying it. We were so close to the boundary. I could see it now, just a hundred meters away. As one of Cerberus' massive paws hit the front in front of me, I realized that hundred meters seemed like a mile. The demon dog was already upon us—there was no way we could outrun it.

Castor cried out as he stumbled for a moment. I feared the worst, but he regained his footing just in time for one of the dog heads clamped onto his back. Castor screamed, whether in pain or sheer terror I didn't know, but it jolted me into action. I leapt and grabbed onto the dog collar, hoisting myself up, feeling my forearms burn as I swung my legs around one of the dog necks. The skeleton man reached out for me, but one swing with my bat knocked his bony hand right off. Castor was stabbing at the other two hands that tried to bite him, kicking out at one head and lashing at the other. I straddled the dog head in my legs and smashed my bat onto dog head holding Castor. The dog yelped and Castor slipped from its jaws, tumbling on the ground, shirt blooming with red.

"Run!" I yelled, thwacking the skeleton and dog heads in a fury, desperately trying to buy time for the wounded boy. Castor struggled to get to his feet and he limped off. I thrashed around more, continuing to smack at the god and his pet, keeping an eye on Castor to see how far he had run. When he was almost through the borders, I yelled out a war cry, smacked the dogs again, and hit the ground, my feet stinging. I began running away, as stupid of a plan that was. Cerberus was whining as Hades ordered it to hunt me down. I honestly felt bad for that doggie. Even for a monster, it had some feelings. All it wanted was some nice attention from its master, and since its master was Lord of Death, I had a feeling the only niceness it would be receiving is a monotonous "goodbye" if the dog ever dies.

Castor was waving his arms at me, grimacing from behind the border. "Come Alex!" he screeched. "It's right behind you! Hurr—"

I didn't hear that last bit because I found myself skidding across the ground at high speed before a heavy weight pinned me to the ground. It smelled strongly of rotting flesh and doggie drool.

I was flipped over and pinned again, this time having a view of three growling dog heads and one grinning skull. Hades' host knelt down to me, empty eye sockets blazing with hellfire.

"I will claim the other in due time," Hades cackled, "but you are the real one I wanted."

"I can feel the love," I spat. "Thanks."

Hades snapped his fingers and the mighty paw pressed down. My ribs were on fire now, and I could feel one start to splinter, the fragments digging into my muscle. An anguished moan fell from my lips. "I'd quit being smart if I were you. You have a Punishment as it is."  
"An unfair one. This isn't justice; this is cruelty!"

Hades shrugged. "It does not matter, does it? For who will come save you, your friends, your mother?" Hades smiled wickedly. "Your mother could care less. It was she who has abandoned you. You've noticed she doesn't talk to you anymore, no words in her head. She didn't worry about you heading to your doom. Obviously, it was easy for her to look the other way."

I wanted to say he was wrong. I wanted to spit at him and fight back with a renewed anger, telling him Athena cared, that it was preposterous to say she didn't.

But I was a smart boy. I knew gods rarely spoke to their children. If they did something spectacular, they'd get a minute of fame from them, maybe. Best case scenario though. From the way my mother has treated my life, it would seem I was long dead to her, or not one of children at all.

"That girl of yours? Thyme, oh and your best friend Taylor, yes? If you don't come with me, I'll make sure they burn alongside you. Do you want that for your friends Alex? Are you that low of a man to damn an innocent?"

I didn't get a chance to reply. Suddenly the skeleton was missing its head. Castor stood beside me, hunched over, face twisted in pain. "Fetch doggie!" he hissed, tossing the skull far away. Cerberus barked once and hopped away in glee.

I wrenched myself up, my chest in pure agony. Castor helped me up, and we sprinted for all we were worth, past the borders, our feet seeming to fly even though we were probably just limping super slowly. The strawberries' rich fragrance filled the air, reassuring me I was safe and home.

Castor and I came across no campers until we reached the cabin area. By then, I didn't think I could walk any more, and Castor seemed to be feeling the same. He was frowning now, tears in his eyes as his shirt turned red with his blood.

A few teens were walking to and fro, and Castor and I did the only thing we could do: we screamed for help. Well, Castor did. It was then that my legs gave out on me and I hit the grass, letting the darkness swarm me for once, just once.


	14. Chapter 14

There was a strange fuzziness in my head, smothering my thoughts in friendly clouds that gathered in every nook and cranny of my brain. My eyelids felt strangely heavy too, and when I opened them it took a lot of effort out of me, and the sudden light seared my eyes.

"There he is," said a familiar voice. "Welcome back to the world Alex." My eyes focused onto Will Solace's face, which was hovering a few feet away from mine.

"Where am I?" I tried to say, but it came out all mumbled and incoherent.

"Don't try to talk yet," Will said. "You're hopped up on some antibiotics, and a newbie nearly OD'd you on nectar. So, sorry 'bout that. Regardless, you should be up and about in no time. I'll walk you through recovery."

"Castor…" I managed, ending with an unintentional gurgle.

"He's fine. It was a little touch and go with him—whatever monster's teeth did a number on him—but he's fine. He's healing up nicely, and he's resting."

"P-Poll…"

"Pollux hasn't seen him yet. Actually, no one has except for my medical team and the kids that dragged you over to the infirmary. Except for them, no one else knows you're alive. We didn't want anyone to get their hopes up." Will shrugged apologetically.

The healer continued to talk to me, and soon I was able to form whole sentences and keep along with the conversation. Next I was able to sit up, with assistance, and it was then Will gave me a roll of bread to gnaw on. We continued to talk, and I looked over at the sleeping body of Castor just two beds away every once and again.

"We burned a shroud in your name," Will was saying when I tuned back in. "Silver one with an owl embroidered on it. It took a whole day for your siblings to make. Everyone was crying up a storm. Taylor and Thyme were absolutely the _worst_ though. Honestly, I didn't think Mr. Strong Man could tear up, let alone sob."

"He's a teddy bear at heart," I chuckled sadly. "I feel terrible to put them through this."

"It wasn't your fault. What happened though? Can you tell me why the big return?" Will motioned to Castor. "I mean, you come hobbling in with a boy that's supposed to be dead. That's incredible!"  
"Our quest led us to the Hunters, and then to Artemis. She was missing a Hunter—Thalia. We went to the Underworld, where Thalia tried to kill Thyme so she could have one of her newly fallen Hunters brought back to life. She didn't do it. Then only three could leave, so they went while I distracted Hades. For him, I promised some action, and that I would follow in Orpheus' footsteps. Push comes to shove, I pick Castor, we leave, we make it, Cerberus comes after us, so does Mr. Personality, and here we are."

I could tell Will had questions, but I didn't want to answer them.

"I think I can go walk now," I said, hauling myself to my feet albeit a tad unsteadily. Will handed me my bat, glimmering gold, for me to lean on.

"Take it easy now," Will called out as I navigated down the steps. "You still have a fractured rib. Don't agitate it!"

I waved and continued to hobble.

The camp had a different light to it. It seemed light and airy, same as always, but the shadows were sharper and more prominent. I expected Hades to pop out of every one of them.

Judging by the height of the sun in the sky, I deduced everyone was probably eating dinner. I staggered to the dining pavilion, stopping halfway to catch my breath, and paused before I started to trudge up the hill, into the open air eatery.

"Once again, we must all bow our heads in silence for Alex Newman, the young man who lost his life fighting bravely in the name of the gods and to save his friends." I could hear Chiron's voice, strong and sad, as he spoke towards the massed campers. "Please, as you all burn your offerings to the gods, burn a bit to him as well. He will be forever remembered."

"That won't be necessary," I called when I had approached close enough. "I can assure you I am very much alive, thanks. Now someone give me food, because I'm starving."

A load of cries went up as campers all scrambled from their seats. Chiron stared at me, but he had a twinkle in his eyes, as though he had been expecting my appearance all along. Knowing his wise ways, he probably had.

Someone slammed into me, taking my breath away, strong arms crushing my chest. "Dude!" Taylor cried, his curly hair scratching against my skin as he buried his face into my shoulder. "Dude!" He kept muttering it over and over.

"I missed you man," I said, and a little quieter added, "Don't let go. Please." Taylor sobbed even harder. I waited a moment before patting him on the back, letting him peel himself away from me. "Pollux," I said. "Where's Pollux?"

The boy made his way through the crowd, gently squeezing through people, excusing himself and apologizing as he went. His familiar blonde hair and rosy cheeks brought a smile to my face. When he was within reach, I wrapped him in a hug. "I've come back to give you a present."

"And what would that be?" he asked, eyes misted over.

"Are you familiar with the myth of Orpheus?"

"Refresh my memory."

I smiled again. Puffing out my chest, I began to project my voice loudly over the crowd. "Orpheus was a man from Ancient Grecian times who was praised for being the greatest musician in the world. However, he lost the love of his life, and played his way into the Underworld and persuaded Hades with his sweet music to give her back, but only if Orpheus could lead her back to the mortal world without looking back at her. Orpheus entered the mortal world and looked back when she had not yet joined him. She disappeared, leaving him heartbroken. However, if Orpheus had succeeded, his fiancé would have lived a long and happy life with him. I am pleased to say I was successful where the musician was not." I paused now, staring at Castor with the biggest smile on my face. "Pollux, I have brought to you Castor."

The crowd gasped. Pollux took a step forward, eyes serious. "Where is he?" he demanded. "Where is my brother?"

"Infirmary. He is weak, but will live."

Pollux grasped me again, this time tears running down his cheeks. "Thank you." The words were soft, and nearly vanished in his wake as he sprinted out the pavilion, legs carrying him faster than he had ever gone before.

"Thyme," I said as he left. "Where is Thyme?"  
How I craved her touch, the sweep of her hair as it fell across her shoulders, and her rosy lips as they split into a sweet soft smile. Thyme pushed to the front, chin up, walking purposefully. She had a nasty bruise on the side of her face, and it pained me to see it, so prominent on her light skin.

My arms were around her in an instant, my face buried in her shoulder. Her sweet strawberry smell tickled my nose and made butterflies dance in my stomach. I didn't know how long I had held her for before my legs buckled, and my breaths came in short gasps.

Taylor and Thyme knelt down to me. "Dude! You okay? Dude, Alex—" He put a hand on my shoulder.

"I'm fine," I interrupted. "Really, I am." But I still couldn't breathe, and my legs felt like jelly.

Thyme pressed the back of her hand on my forehead. "You're burning up," she protested. "We need to get you back to the sick bay."

"No…" I groaned. "Will's getting boring."

"We can stay and talk."

"I can't walk back."

Taylor scooped me up bridal style, as though I weighed less than a rag doll. "I gotcha buddy. No worries."  
"Wait, wait, wait," I said. I pointed to the nearest table, and Taylor stepped closer. I grabbed off the nearest plate of food and goblet. "Okay, lead me away Robin."

"Hey, I think I should be Batman. I'm not your sidekick," Taylor smirked.

We debated the topic on the way back, Thyme trailing, both of them laughing as my arguments became sillier and sillier as I tired myself out.

They filled me in on what happened during the rest of the quest. Thalia was returned to her Hunters, and using Artemis' powers they were able to run across the country. Artemis herself did not accompany them—she transported to Mount Olympus to clear the air there. On the journey home, Taylor and Thyme said they encountered a few monsters—monstrously large boars, a hydra, even one giant who Taylor gladly took out of the equation. No one was hurt too seriously, thanks to Thyme. She stepped up to the plate, knew where to lead the girls and when to stop for night, how to defeat the creatures in a better way than Thalia's "shoot and pray" technique.

That made me smile.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you," I told her, a stupid little smile plastered on my face. One of my hands wildly searched for one of hers. I grabbed Taylor's instead.

"Ugh, dude, wrong hand!" he spat, plopping my hand forcefully on its target. I was happy to note her fingers tightened around my own.

"You did great," I slurred. "Really great, like, extraordinary, or superb, because you're Thyme and everything you do is superb and it was stupid for me to yell at you." My bottom lip jutted out as I pouted deliriously.

"It's fine," Thyme said. "You motivated me. Thank you for that." Her fingers gently brushed away a lock of my hair from my eyes. "Go to sleep Alex."

"Thyme?"

"What?"

"I love you." I began giggling. It felt like bubbles were rising out of my stomach and tickling me from the inside out.

Taylor sighed. "Man, if you're going to be confessing something everyone already knew, you must be an idiot. How much nectar are you hopped up on? Or, more probable, how high are you?"

"Taylor's mean," I spat. "Go away."

Taylor ruffled my hair with one hand, smiling. "Love ya bro. Maybe when you're better we can show these campers how to play a real game. Go all Babe Ruth on 'em."

I just stuck my tongue out in reply and began giggling again. The last thing I could recall before I fell asleep was Thyme's sweet voice, quietly singing out a lullaby as I drifted off, hands still clamped together.

Little did I know I'd have to let go.

**One of the last chapters… did everyone like it? Hope so! I can't remember if I updated last week or not, so here it is… was, I should say haha. Side note: Is anyone else SUPER STOKED for _The Mark of Athena_? Pre-ordered it, baby!**

**Care to review?**


	15. Chapter 15

It came at me, hurtling like a meteor streaking across the night sky, straight down the line, nearing the strike zone. My hands tightened on my trusty bat as I swung it and cracked the baseball down centerfield. My team comprised of Taylor, the Stolls, Annabeth, Will Solace, and a few of the Nemesis cabin, and they all cheered for me to start running.

I needn't be told.

My blood pumped something fierce, my heart racing a million miles a minute but in a good way. Never had my smiled left my face, not since the first inning. And when I rounded third base, hoping to make a narrow victory for home base, my smile only widened. Thyme was catcher, and in her hand was the ball. She was standing a few feet away from the plate, mask discarded, a wicked glint in her eyes like she dared me to try and make it home.

I smiled at her, accepting the challenge. I was in my element. There was no way she could beat me now. Earlier, in the afternoon, I was thrilled I was able to rally enough campers for a proper game, and was absolutely astonished to find more than a few of them were decent players. Right now it was the bottom of the ninth, three to three, winning run right here.

No sweat.

My feet were a blur as I sprinted, the wind cool across my sweaty face. Just as Thyme was near enough, she lunged for me. I stopped suddenly and spun left, diving as she swung her arm to the side. I picked myself up in a roll and was about to step on the plate when I felt one of her feet catch my ankle and send me tumbling to the plate. The white plastic rose to greet my face.

_Okay, at least it's dirt,_ I thought.

Nope.

My face connected full force with while marble. Blood began gushing from my nose as I sat up quickly and held my head. "Oh gods, what the he—"

"Alex."

My head snapped up, ready to find either Taylor or Thyme bending down to help me, but instead found a room of stone-faced Olympians glaring down at me disapproving from their massive thrones. "Uh, hello," I said, my nose squeaky from my blocked nose. "Sorry about, uh, the blood on your, um, marble."

Apollo grinned and, after taking out his iPod ear buds, snapped his fingers. I felt my nose tingle and the gushing of blood stopped. "Gotcha covered," Apollo said.

"Thanks man—I mean, Lord Apollo."

I got to my feet quickly, all the while marveling at the architecture from the corner of my eye. I still couldn't believe Annabeth had designed this—the columns, wow, and the gleaming marble, oh! It was so impressive, with the hearth large behind me, warming my back to a comfortable amount… My sister was pretty cool, but don't tell her that.

"Alexander Newman." The one who spoke was Zeus—at least, it had to be him. He was sitting in a grey throne, stiff backed, in a pinstripe suit and tie, black hair and beard neatly groomed. He could've been a big time hot shot rivaling the Trump if not for the large blue master bolt crackling in one of his hands. "We have brought you here because you have cheated my brother from death."

"Fairly," I protested, but a loud roar of thunder silenced me.

"I will not tolerate interruptions in my court," he growled.

"Yeah, kid, some of us have got places to go." I turned my head to see Hermes sitting on the edge of his seat, made out of cardboard boxes labeled with Hermes Express. It wasn't a pretty sight—the god looked like he just came from a run, skin slightly glistening, in neon yellow running shorts and trainers. His caduceus was writhing, from two snakes apparently. Hermes tapped his wrist watch and tapped his foot.

Zeus glared at his inferior before clearing his throat.

"You were foolish to enter the kingdom of spirits, and anger my brother while doing it? Very foolish, young demigod."

"I believe he is a hunter, and to survive is a strong instinct of his." Artemis snickered, and I did my best to keep my mouth from dropping. The boy-hating huntress giving me a complement? On hunting?

Going down in the record books.

Zeus eyed Lady Artemis reproachfully. "Foolish regardless."

"What was I supposed to do?" I spat. "Lay down and let him kill my friends and then me? Yeah, that was the totally right thing to do. Sacrifice my mortal self for an immortal's bruised pride." My fists balled. "You have quite some priorities there, my lord. Tell you what? Next time you start throwing a hissy fit because one of your gods missed roll call, you go and sort out the mess. I'm sure you could spare a few minutes of cloud watching."

"You do not have the right to threaten me. I would watch your mouth if I were you, puny human."

"I've been through hell for the last couple of weeks. Recovering from the physical and mental stress of the quest, especially the emotional. I saw my dead father, whom my mother let die, and that broke my heart when I had to choose between him and Thyme, whose mother doesn't care about her either. You guys suck at parenting, and take away the people that don't."

"Alex." My head turned angrily to see a woman, blonde hair in a tight bun on her head, grey eyes sharp as they analyzed me. She was dressed in a lab coat, as though she just came from a laboratory after conducting some tough experiment. "Calm yourself. Listen to the gravity of the situation."

"Gee, thanks Mom." But I stayed quiet and stared up at Zeus, arms crossed, eyes locked in a glare. The hair rose on the back of my neck, like he may zap me at any moment and I'd be Kitty Litter Alex.

Zeus sighed. "However foolish you have been, you were clever. For that, we commend you. Your training seems to be paying off. Regardless, there is the matter of righting Hades' anger." I stayed silent, my heart dropping. "If you relent to death, your family and friends will be spared a painful afterlife."

"He lost the wager fair and square," I hissed. "This hardly seems fair. I escaped with my life and Castor's despite his best efforts. I believe that calls for celebration, not punishment."

"Hades anger will not cease."

"My parents have had their trials, therefore they cannot be tried again. My friends are all brave and honorable, to say so otherwise would be a crime."

"Choose."

My slumped shoulders straightened. What else could I do? I was on the fast track to death. There was only right thing to do, only one morally just thing. "Myself then, obviously," I said, sighing. My head was spinning, gears working as I tried one last ditch effort to save my life. I shrugged and sighed again, acting nonchalant and passing off the fact I was probably going to die a hideous death and burn in Hell for all eternity. "Alright, get it over with. What's my death? Zapped by your bolt? Shot with an arrow?" I turned my head and widened my eyes as though I had just noticed the hearth behind me. "Oh, I get it. Okay, okay, you want me to burn myself alive? Fine, got it. Here we go." I spun and placed one foot on the edge of the enormous brazier, getting ready as though to throw myself to the hungry flames.

_Please let them stop me. Please, please, please._

"Stop," commanded Zeus. I turned and sheepishly smiled, like _Oh, sorry. I guess you wanted to kill me yourself._ "This behavior will not be tolerated. Do you understand?"

"Of course, my lord."

"However, we understand the bravery of young heroes. You would lay your life down for your family and friends. What a character." Zeus said this last piece dully, as though he was tiredly of repeating himself. "Heroes never vary much nowadays." Zeus glanced at his wristwatch. "Hm, I must be elsewhere. Athena, take care of it. He is your son, after all. Meeting adjourned."

I was stunned. Ten Olympians vanished, in flames, in a burst of light, even rose petals. I took a sigh in relief, thankful that Hades had been unable to make the party.

My mother rose, and her towering form quickly shrank down to size. For a moment I realized she was shorter than me, and she must've seen that too for she quickly raised her height to outmatch my own.

She walked over silently. Once we were close enough, she paused and regarded me. I stared at her as well, eyes locked on her own.

"Clever tactic Alexander," she purred. "Vague, flawed, yet acceptable."

"Gee, thanks Mother."  
"Of course."

"So what's the verdict? Am I headed to Mr. Personality's world or what?"

Athena shook her head. "Zeus has arranged for a peace verdict. Hades is a sore loser—he understands what is fair and what is blinded by rage." She paused, as though to think. "You are never to return to the Underworld again, not for those motives."

Those motives…?

My father. If I could go back for my father… It hurt me to think I had never even considered that, and my heart filled with guilt. I could've gone back for him.

"No, you could not have returned." It was as though Athena had read my mind. "It would have been foolish to do so; I had kept you from considering the option since your recovery. The dead are best dead. Castor was an exception."

"Can I go back then?" I said sourly. "To camp, I mean. I was going to score the winning run."

"You enjoy baseball." I thought that was a stupid thing to say for a goddess of wisdom. "Your father enjoyed it quite a bit as well. "John was a nice man. Honorable, resourceful, and he always knew how to treat me well. He had quite a mind."

"Don't talk of him," I said. "You didn't deserve a man like him."  
"I agree." My eyes widened. "Alex, go home, back to your friends."

Then, the scene changed. No longer was I standing before her in the throne room of Olympus, but on the makeshift baseball diamond at camp, the scent of strawberries in the air, my feet firmly on the plastic home plate. Everyone was silent, staring at me with surprise. I must've looked the same—I was perplexed. _I agree_. Are you kidding me? No explanation? What did that… what did she mean?

My friends all screamed in joy when they saw me. A few rushed over, and I found my thoughts had drawn away from my immortal mother and her regrets.

Taylor clapped me on the back, screaming in my ear how we were both awesome and total Babe Ruth status worthy. Thyme was next, wrapping me in a hug, her lips close to my ear as she whispered, "What happened? What was that about?"

"Later," I smiled, bending down to swiftly peck her lips. Even from the millisecond of contact I felt weightless, able to feel her soft lips on my own, able to feel an impossibly idiotic smile spread across my face.

Her beautiful blue eyes widened, and my stomach churned when I realized she probably was completely disgusted by me, by then her arms wrapped around my neck and she drew me in. I could taste the gloss on her lips—cherry flavored, not strawberry like her hair or the fields that she constantly walked through.

When she pulled back, I rushed in and stole another, my cheeks blushing ridiculously afterwards. "Sorry," I smirked.

"For what?" she winked back.

Taylor screamed even louder. "Yea! My boy's gotta lady friend! Alex got a lady friend!"

And then the Stolls started in, and then the Nemesis cabin.

For once, I didn't mind.

**And that, my dear readers, is the end of No Point in Fighting. Thank you for all who have read, favorited, followed, etc. Thank you for letting me entertain you with my wild imagination!  
Always, stay reading, stay writing, and stay fighting.**

**Your community satyr worshipper,**

**SatyrsUnite**


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